DO YOU KNOW?
How to sell your home when there is a missing owner listed on the title?
What happens if you are a seller trying to sell your home with another party listed on the deed where you have not seen that other party since the exchange of title? ( i.e., boyfriend and girlfriend purchase a home together, they split up and one party moves out never to be heard of or seen again).
Before a Real Estate Agent should list your home, it would be wise to check the title through the Clerk of the Court, Official Records Office. If the second party which is missing is indeed on the title, the title is unmarketable unless the missing party is found.
However, the legal solution for this would be for the Seller to bring a quiet title lawsuit. Depending on the facts, the potential Seller’s attorney could best advise which legal steps to take. It may take hiring a private investigator, publishing legal notices in the paper, etc., of the pending lawsuit to clear the title.
If all of this is accomplished in trying to locate the missing party, and the Court is satisfied this party is dead, can not be located or has no title interest in the house, the Court can order the title "quieted" in the seller’s name so the seller can sell marketable title.
