What Does Joint Ownership Mean For You?

Simply put joint ownership is two people owning the same things. It can be a home, land or anything else for that matter. If two people can own it then you can have joint ownership of it. Most cases of joint ownership is between married couples. In the event of the spouses death having joint ownership can make things much easier for living spouse. You could find yourself fighting to keep your home if you do not have joint ownership of it.

When your spouse dies it is necessary to restrict the finances as soon as possible. When you are tied up with probate that might be hard to do. When you jointly own your home it will be immediately transferred to you along with your assets. Most states do not consider your home additional property when your spouse dies and you jointly own the property. This means that no taxes are added or assessed for the ownership of the home.

Dividing the assets in a divorce is much easier if the couple has joint ownership. When something is jointly owned it is split equally in a divorce. One person may choose to sell there portion of the assets to the ex spouse. You can not contest rights very easily with joint ownership.

Other people can jointly own things it is not solely for couples who are married. Sometimes a parent and a child have joint ownership of property. If the child has financial stability and is the only child this is a pretty good idea. When a parent and child jointly own property the child does not get stuck in probate when the parent dies. Most financial advisers warn against doing this though.

A parent and child that jointly own a home or property together may still have some problems. When there are multiple children the parents sometimes want the home sold immediately and all the money split between the children equally. If the child that has become the sole owner of the home refuses to do this the other children would get nothing.

The home is legally the child's property and became the owner immediately upon death of the parent. This is a bad situation that can cause a lot of hard feelings between family members. If the child does not wish to follow the instructions of the parent then legally the other children have to just live with that decision. A parent could face more problems than that though. If the child is having some type of financial trouble like bankruptcy or unpaid back taxes the parent could possibly lose the home to debt collectors.

When two people have joint ownership of a business is it a very good idea to get extensive documents drawn up and signed saying what should and should not be done by each owner. Having these documents will ensure the safety of the business as well as both owners. You should have these documents as soon as the ownership papers are signed.

Sharing joint ownership can be a very good thing or a very bad thing. Be careful who you decide to jointly own something with, you could end up with nothing. You also could be doing your family a huge favor by jointly owning your property with one of them.