Property titles differ. With each comes rights and responsibilities. Which one is right for you and your family depends on your goals and the challenges you face. Explore your options if you’re buying property or think a change might benefit your current property.
What is Real Estate?
It’s land and any improvements or vegetation on it, or it could be a section of a building like a condo or townhouse. Land often has a structure on it. If not, you may be able to build one or leave it as is. What title you have determines your ownership rights.
Many laws, regulations, and ordinances impact how you use it. Wetlands rules may prevent you from building on it or restrict construction to part of it. Zoning laws can limit how you use it. A right-of-way may allow others to use your property against your will. Lawsuits by neighbors or local government may prevent you from doing what you want with the property.
What Is a Title?
Titles set forth what the property is and who owns it. The title to real property describes it and lists how you own it, which impacts your legal rights. The title can be lost if you’re successfully sued or don’t pay your taxes. It can be transferred if the property will be held in a trust or you sell it.
Real estate ownership has several forms, and the one you use impacts your ability to transfer ownership, use it as collateral, and fulfill your tax responsibilities. Each type has costs and benefits, depending on your perspective and how you want ownership to pass in the future.
What are the Title Types?
- Joint Tenancy
Two or more people hold the title with equal property rights. If one dies, their ownership rights go to the surviving tenant(s) because of the right of survivorship. A benefit is these legal rights pass without going through the probate process. The parties owning the real estate need not be married or related.
They share responsibilities for the property and must all approve of using it for financing or selling it. A creditor of a party with a legal judgment against a co-owner could ask a court to divide legal ownership and force a sale to collect on the judgment.
- Tenancy In Common
Two or more people hold equal title to the property. They have title to their part of the property and can dispose of it when they want. Their interest can pass through a will to someone else or their next of kin if there is none.
The ownership shares need not be even, but all other ownership aspects are shared by those named on the title. Each owner can occupy and use the property. Their interest only concerns the property’s financial ownership.
An owner can use their interest in the property as loan collateral, and a creditor can place a lien only on the debtor’s share of ownership. The owners are jointly and severally liable for property taxes, which means they could all share in paying them, or one might pay it.
- Sole Ownership
One person or legal entity owns the property. This can include a spouse who owned the property before getting married or who inherited it during marriage. The property is not otherwise community property.
It’s just up to the owner to decide which, if any, financial transaction should affect the property. If a person is the sole owner, after their death, the title could pass through a will or intestacy (the person’s next of kin would inherit it).
- Community Property
Under California’s community property laws, any assets (including real estate) acquired during a marriage are jointly owned between spouses or domestic partners. Property is equally owned, no matter who earned the money to buy it. Each spouse or partner gets an equal division if the spouses divorce, the partners break up, or one of them dies.
We’re Here to Help
If you own or are buying real estate and have questions about property titles and how they impact your legal rights, call the AWB Law, P.C. team at (949) 244-4207 or complete our online contact form today. We can discuss how property title works and your options.
