Hello all and thank you for taking the time to read this. Here is my situation, I hope someone can point me in the right direction. Legal Aid is not available to help me and I do not have any money for an attorney.

I added my sibling to my home/deed in order to obtain a mortgage to help me through some really tough times when I became disabled.

I and he are both on the deed, however, he is the only one on the mortgage. The mortgage company will not speak to me.

Well, I had a falling out and now my sibling has threatened me with a "friendly foreclosure". At first he told me, he was going to partion my home? I don't know what that means.

Do I not have any rights by being a property owner? I am still on the deed. Can the bank just take my home, without even my permission? Just his?

I did own the home solely for 11 years before adding him to the deed to obtain a mortgage. I couldn't obtain a mortgage due to my lack of employment and credit rating.

Although, I added him, legally he owns 1/2 however, just on paper and he knows this is MY house and I am responsible. He has helped in paying the mortgage and at tax time I pay him most of what he has paid. I am only short about 2000 when everything is said and done.

I am in a real mess and do not know where to turn with this. I do not want to lose my home :(. How can he just give away my house without my permission? Or signature?

Any help is appreciated :(

Distraught sister

Hello Sister:

Well you don't have a SHORT term problem. You actually have a LONG term one.

As long as the mortgage is PAID, the bank won't put you out. And, HE can't foreclose on you as a co-owner. I don't know what partition is, and if I don't know about it, it doesn't exist.

Your long term problem is that he OWNS half your house. You're going to have to deal with him to get him off the title eventually, or when you sell it, he's going to get HALF.

excon

I and he are both on the deed, however, he is the only one on the mortgage. The mortgage company will not speak to me.

Do I not have any rights by being a property owner? I am still on the deed. Can the bank just take my home, without even my permission? Just his?

I did own the home solely for 11 years before adding him to the deed to obtain a mortgage. I couldn't obtain a mortgage due to my lack of employment and credit rating.

Although, I added him, legally he owns 1/2 however, just on paper and he knows this is MY house and I am responsible. He has helped in paying the mortgage and at tax time I pay him most of what he has paid. I am only short about 2000 when everything is said and done.
distraught sister
Welcome to AMHD. The lender can foreclose if the mortgage goes into arrears; there's nothing 'friendly' about it, it's just 'business'. Your brother is the one who is 'stuck', here, because he tried to help you through some tough times. My guess is that he is bluffing, but can you risk that? You really should try to make peace with him for your own good and well-being. Start catching up on those arrears; perhaps he will take a different view of things.

If someone does not pay the mortgage, the bank will foreclose, So as long as every payment is made and never a single day late, they can not foreclose

I would assume on the partition he means he will come in and buil some walls dividing the home in 1/2, since he owns part of it, Now of course since he is 1/2 owner, he can legally come in and out of the home anytime he wants. Many mistakes made, as not having yourself on the mortgage, with him as a co signer and so on. Also if one can not afford a mortgage one should not get one.

But as long as he is on the mortgage, he can come and go from the home as he pleases, and he could even go and borrow more money on the home and do a re=finance if he wanted to, since you have allowed him to have control of the loan.

And the long range issue is getting his name off the deed. If there were no mortgage, he could petition a court for a partition, which means getting an order forcing you to sell, at which time he gets his 1/2. You should have time to patch things up if you make your mind up to do so.