I leased optioned my property a little over a year ago. The man has already paid me most of the money that he owes me and I am ready to sign over the deed to him. The problem is that my common law husband, who is in prison right now, agreed to sign the limited power of attorney allowing me to sign his name to finish the legal transfer of the property and he even wrote me a letter saying he signed it, but now he is coming up with all kinds of excuses as to why he has not sent it. I do not know what to do. My husband was fully aware of the deal for the entire year and verbally agreed to sign the papers when it came time to transfer the property, but now he keeps coming up with excuses. I am the first name on the deed because I was the one who paid for the property, I only put him on the deed because he is the father of my child and in case something would ever happen to me, he could sell the property to help take care of her. I am really in a bind now. The man who is buying the property has already invested about 25,000.00 and he is threatening to go to the District Attorney and having me arrested for fraud. Is there any way I can sign over the deed to him without the second parties signature. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks,

Desperate to Close the Deal.

You should have thought of this before offering the property for sale. I suggest you consult an attorney ASAP, because you could be arrested on a fraud chanrge for selling a property you have no right to sell.

My husband is in prison. A year ago we lease optioned our property, I drew up the agreement because he was in jail awaiting trial. He was fully aware of the agreement and told me he would sign the papers when it came time to transfer the property. Since he is in prison and cannot be there for the signing I sent him a limited power of attorney.
He wrote me a letter saying he signed it but keeps coming up with excuses about why he has not sent it. Can I use the letter as proof that he was willing to sign and just sign his name and have it notarized myself? I need to sign over the property to the man who has been buying it since he has invested a substantial amount of money in the property already. He said if I don't get the signed document soon, he will go to the district attorney and press charges.

Hello sue:

No you can't sign your husbands name.

If you don't complete your agreement with the buyer, you're NOT GUILTY of a crime, so his going to the DA isn't going to help him or hurt you or your husband. It's just a civil matter.

You DO need to get on the same page with your husband... I don't know how to tell you to do that.

excon

First please do not post the same question in different places. Even though this was a variation, its on the same issue.

If you have written proof that your husband agreed to sign over the property, then there is no fraud issues here. But you still can't sign his name without the POA. So I would send a copy of the POA to the warden with a request that he get your husband to sign and send back. Include a SASE to make it easy to return. I don't know if the warden will help but its worth a try.

Otherwise, you may have to file suit against your husband to force him to sign.