Ask Renee: Required Signatures on Contracts

Hello, this is Renee Han with Downey Frye Realty. This is part of a series I call Ask Renee, where I tackle some of the more common, uh, real estate-related questions and give you short and sweet answers. So today I want to talk about a question that comes up not often, but when it comes up, people are very surprised by it, and that is, do both spouses need to sign the listing agreement and/or the sales contract. And I remember one of the first transactions I got into in the real estate arena was with a gentleman who was a lawyer from another state, and he was just floored that he had to sign all of the contracts involved in the selling of his home. And the reason he was shocked is they had put the home in a trust He was not even listed on the trust. It was in his wife's name. But what they overlooked and what they, they didn't realize is that when you homestead your property in the state of Florida, it actually gives your spouse rights to that property, even if they're not on the deed, even if they're not on the mortgage, even if they're not in the trust. They have rights to that property. And for that reason, when a home is homesteaded, Both spouses must sign all contracts related to listing and selling that property. So one of the things you can do is look on homestead status, uh, if you can't remember what you might have done for your home. Surprisingly, because these are oftentimes somebody's secondary home or third or fourth home in Florida, they may not even remember where they— whether they homesteaded it or not. That does happen every now and again, so don't be surprised by that. But you definitely want to dive a bit more into it. You can specifically find information on the Florida Constitution, in particular Article X, Section 4. You know, what it says is the homestead shall not be subject to devise if the owner is survived by a spouse or minor child, except the homestead may be devised to the owner's spouse If there be no minor child, the owner of the homestead real estate, joined by the spouse if married, may alienate the homestead by mortgage, sale, or gift, and if married, may by deed transfer the title to an estate by the entirety with the spouse. If the owner's spouse is incompetent, the method for alienation or encumbrance shall be provided by law. But again, forget all the legal jargon. The thing to keep in mind: if your property is homesteaded Both spouses need to sign all contracts. Now, if both are on the deed and the mortgage and so on, then they're going to have to sign anyways. This usually only comes into question when one of the spouses isn't on any of those things. But again, the homestead becomes the trump card in this matter. So I hope this answers your question. If you've got any other questions or real estate needs for that matter, don't hesitate to give me a call. Again, Renee Hahn, 239-287-2576. Have a fantastic day!