How to Hold Title to Your Home?

Buying a home, especially your first home, can be a stressful process. There’s a seemingly endless amount of documents to sign and information to process. When it’s all over it can leave individuals feeling excited to embark on a new journey in their new home, but perhaps confused and anxious about the transaction they just took part in and what it all means. 

At Martino Law Offices and Noddle Island Real Estate, LLC we have a team of attorneys and brokers who not only want to help you buy or sell your home, but want to use our experience and expertise in real estate transactions to make the process simple and understandable. Below will follow a brief synopsis on the legal concept of holding title to real property and what it means in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. If you find this helpful please contact us to schedule a consultation regarding any current or future real estate or legal needs. 

Title to Property, What Does It Mean and How Do I Hold It? 

Since 1636 the law in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has required two steps to hold title to real property. First, title must be granted to the newly holding party (“the Grantee”) by way of a valid deed from the conveying party (“the Grantor”), and in so doing the Grantor must swear or affirm under the pains and penalties of perjury and in the presence of a notary to be signing the deed for the purpose of conveying the property. Second, once the deed is properly executed by the Grantor, the deed must then be recorded at the county registry of deeds. The transaction is final only after the recording of the valid deed, at which point it may be said that the Grantee holds title to the real property. 

Since 1992, the most common deed in Massachusetts is the Quitclaim Deed, whereby a Grantor quits any future claims against the Grantee. A valid Quitclaim Deed will convey only the title and interest that the grantor possesses in the land at the time the deed is given. A valid Quitclaim Deed will contain information regarding the parties (i.e. who is granting title and who is receiving title), the consideration for the transaction (i.e. the purchase price), covenants made by the grantor (i.e. to quit all future claims to that property), and a proper description of the land being conveyed. As noted above, a valid Quitclaim Deed will also contain what is known as a Jurat – a signed and sworn statement by the Grantor that they are signing the document for its stated purpose (i.e. to transfer the land to the new Grantee). In recent years, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has required language on Quitclaim Deeds whereby the Grantee releases any homestead rights in the property that they may hold (a future blog will contain valuable information about Homestead rights and claims against property in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts). 

The three most common ways to hold title in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts are as Joint Tenants, Tenants in Common and Married Tenants by the Entirety. How you hold title matters. 

The one exception to the Quitclaim Deed is that mortgagees (i.e. banks or loan institutions that lend money and hold a security interest in the property) may hold the right to a future claim against the property. Courts in Massachusetts held that such a claim is not a disruption of the chain of title, but merely an encumbrance on the property. Encumbrances on a property that are not properly discharged or released can pose a problem to the future sale of a property. 

For any person who is buying a home we highly suggest hiring an attorney or a qualified individual to conduct a valid title exam on the property and ensure that the title to the property follows a valid chain and is unencumbered. 

BLURB ABOUT NODDLE ISLAND INCLUDING OUR SLOGAN

THIS BLOG ENTRY IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. THIS BLOG IS NOT INTENDED TO SERVE AS LEGAL ADVICE AND SHOULD NOT BE RELIED ON AS LEGAL ADVICE FOR ANY FUTURE REAL ESTATE TRANSACTION. EACH REAL ESTATE TRANSACTION IS UNIQUE AND THE INFORMATION THAT IS PROVIDED ABOVE MAY OR MAY NOT APPLY TO YOUR INDIVIDUAL TRANSACTION.