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Asked 8 months ago - Salisbury, MD
FlagMan owns real property tenants by entirety and has clear title/no mortgage. Man marries but doesn't add wife to deed. Man executes quit claim deed giving interest in property to children of previous marriage and leaving current wife a life estate. Man, with wife, mortgage/borrow against the property after execution of the quit claim deed. My question is, did the man have the legal right to borrow against a property he has given away his rights to?
A tenancy by the entierty means man and wife, as a unit, own the property. Man, alone, cannot break the tenancy by the entierty. They must execute a deed, together. I think you are confused on what the terms mean, and so the question may be a bit misleading. The surest thing is to bring your documents to a Salisbury attorney for review and explanation. Would you like a referral?
I agree with the other two answers. If he did in fact own the property outright himself and executed one quitclaim deed to his kids reserving a life estate for his wife only, then he has given away every right he has in the property. If he owned it as "tenants by the entirety" then that indicates he owned it with another person so you have a different outcome. This would be a simple, and most likely inexpensive, matter to seek advice on from an attorney. Take a copy of the original deed and the subsequent deed to a local real estate lawyer for a consultation.
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