Should husband add his wife's names to deeds to his properties?


If he feels that he will be married to her forever, it would make sense to add her name so that the property would not go through probate if he dies first.  However, if they get divorced, she will end up with one-half of his properties.


Michael: Thanks, Tom. I got a different situation. I had a house and some rental property before I got married. Got married, and I have a will that she gets everything that I have. Do I need to put her name on my property to ensure that she is going to get this without going into a probate or something?

Attorney Tom Olsen: How long have you been married, Michael?

Michael: 11 years.

Attorney Tom Olsen: All right. Michael, there's pros and cons. The pro would be, yes, if you add her name to all the deeds of these properties, and you pass away, they would go to her without probate. The con would be that if you add her name to these properties, and you happened to get divorced in two years, she's going to leave with one half of those properties. If you leave it with your name only, and you get divorced in two years, you're going to leave with the whole property. That's a judgment call you're going to have to make, Michael. It depends on how solid you feel like your marriage is.

If you said, "Tom, I know she's the one, I'm never going to get divorced from her." Then adding her name could be a good idea. You got any doubts at all about it, then I would suggest you keep them in your name only.

Michael: Okay. Well, Thank you, Tom.

Attorney Tom Olsen: You're welcome, Michael. Bye, bye.