How do I take Title?
Bannan and Associates, LLC

When you purchase property, there probably isn't much thought put into how you will take title to your home. How you take title is important should anything catastrophic happen. Proper title will ensure your property vests in the right person. There are several ways to take title to your property. Of course, choosing the appropriate one depends upon your  marital status, state laws and any estate planning you may have in place. Here are the basic ways to take title.

Sole Owner

Only one person holds title. He or she is the sole owner of the property and no one else needs to be considered.

Tenants In Common

"Tenants in Common" means that the only thing the owners have in common is tenancy in the property. The property may have 2 or more owners and they may be related or unrelated. Please note that what percentage of each owner may be sold, gifted or willed without the permission of the other owners. To illustrate,  if both A and B own a piece of property and A dies, the percentage of ownership of A goes to their heirs, not to B.

Tenants By The Entirety

"Tenants By The Entirety" is reserved solely for married couples. This means that you own the property as one. If something happens to either one of you, the other person automatically keeps title to the property.

Joint Tenants With Right of Survivorship

Just as it sounds, "Joint Tenancy" means that each of you owns the property jointly. When you take title as Joint Tenants, you've agreed to the right of survivorship to the title of the property. This means that if one of you passes away, the other gets the property. It also means that one owner cannot sell or will the property without the other owner's consent. For instance, if owner A wants to sell the property, then owner B will have to agree to that. This operates similarly to Tenants by the Entirety, but without marriage.

Trust

An excellent estate planning tool for some is is taking title as a trust. This means that the trust, not you, owns the property. This may protect your asset in the event of litigation, however please note that there are other problems when you don't actually have title to the property.

Possessing the proper type of title takes the opinion of legal counsel so please discuss this important issue with a qualified attorney before signing your final closing papers.