Homestead Owned by Corporation: Spouse's Rights
A man owned a home and decided to get married. Before the marriage he created a Florida corporation and deed his home into the name of the corporation. He owned all the shares of the corporation. Later, when the husband wanted to refinance the house the lender inquired whether the non-owner spouse had an interest in the homestead which she would have to waive in order to give the new lender an enforceable mortgage. Although this issued arose in the context of a real estate transaction, the issue is relevant to understanding homestead rights and protection.
Florida law liberally interprets homestead protection and has a bias to give people an enforceable, vested legal interest in the property where they live. The Florida Constitution limits homestead interests to natural persons, but it does not define the nature of the homestead interest.. Almost any beneficial interest in a homestead property is sufficient to get homestead protection. For example, the beneficiary of a trust which hold legal title to a homestead may qualify for a protected interest in the homestead.
This case if different. The homestead is owned by a corporation which is not a natural person. The wife has no beneficial interest. She is not a stockholder in the corporation. I do not think the wife has a protected interest in the house in which she resides; she is a tenant in the corporation's property. People who intend to protect their home from creditors should not transfer legal title to a corporation, partnership, or any other entity other than a revocable living trust of which they are the beneficiary.
posted by Jonathan Alper, asset protection and bankruptcy attorney, Orlando, Florida
Very good site with a lot of useful
information
Interesting post.
To me it seems like all the cities that had hyper-appreciation of real estate values from 2000 through 2005 are now really taking some major value declines.
Here in San Diego, I subscribe to: http://www.brokerforyou.com/brokerforyou This San Diego real estate publishes a real tell-it-like-it-is blog. His 12-31-07 post Real Estate Market Predictions for San Diego in 2008 is a realistic idea about what this year will hold for not only San Diego, but, all the cities that had hyper-inflation.
Jannet
http://www.lasik-surgery-san-diego.info
Question: Can I place property owned in Canada in a revocable or irrevocable living trust, for which I am either a sole beneficiary or naming an out of state university as beneficiary that I create while a resident of Florida and if I move out of state, how is it affected?
The wife and I file separately. She has excellent credit and I do not. Can she own a home outright. In other words, if the mortgage is in her name, can the title for the home be only in her name?
What if the husband died. Then, subsequent to the husband's death, another company purchased the land once owned by the husband's corporation. Would the wife living on the property be able to claim homestead protection?
I have a situation where a Farm was owned by an S Corp. A Shareholder sold his interest to the remaining shareholder. The remaining shareholder then added their name to the deed so the property is held jointly. They then filed for homestead. I cannot find any situation like this to see if their homestead protection has been lost
I live in a condo in Orlando. My husband purchased the condo before we were married. I am not on the deed. I have lived here 23 years as my primary residence. My condo management company is stating I can not serve on the board as I am not a "Unit Onwer". Our documents define Unit Owner as the person or entity owning a Condominimum Unit. Is the management company correct in stating I can not serve? Thank you