I am getting married in a few months, my fiancée owns the house in PA and we are equally buying out his ex-wife (her name was not on the deed or mortgage) Their divorce decree has been amended so that after we buy her out, she has no claim to the house. My credit and his credit is not very good, so we are afraid to refinance. If we only add my name to the deed and not to the mortgage, will I have right of survivorship or just be a considered a joint tenant?

Are you certain yor fianace, and yourself, cannot refinancec the ex off?You undertand the market, the scores you may or may not need and so on?

I only ask because I would hate to see go throuh a couple of extra steps if you don't need them. Like for instance how much equity is in the home? How much will she be paid?

Questions like that upi are more than welcome to send me a Yahoo message or a private e-mail and I will advice with more detail and help where I can.

How are you going to "buy" the ex out if you don't refinance, when you buy her out, basically you have to refi because if you don't, the ex is still liable for the mortgage since their name is still on it.
The ex would be crazy to sell out a share of the house but still be legally liable for the mortgage

Her name was never on the mortgage. She was only going to get the equity (which is almost nothing) once the house was sold. So we are going to pay her the amount of the equity.

Your right of survivorship will depend on how your name appears on the deed. If the new deed is prepared as "John Doe, Seller, to John Doe and Mary Doe, Purchasers, JTWROS (joint tenants with right of survivorship)" or "John Doe and Mary Doe, husband and wife" then your right of survivorship should be no problem.

If your names appear as "John Doe and Mary Doe, Purchasers, as tenants in common" then you will not have the right of survivorship.

I suggest that you have the deed prepared by an attorney or title company. You can tell them exactly what you want and there will be much less risk of a problem.

Another thing you should consider is shopping around to refinance. Even though your credit is not good there may be an affordable mortgage out there. And how else will you repair your credit except by getting a loan and repaying it on time?

Thank you so much Lisa. :)