Richard and Jane own a house together. Both their names are on the deed yet only his name is on the mortgage. Can Richard sell the house without Janes approval?

NC <><

Last week, my husband and his father sold a property that was in their names only. There was only a deed, no mortgage.

The attorney for the buyer wanted both wives signatures stating that we knew about the sale, to protect themselves from future issues (if there were to be a divorce, the wives couldn't come back and say we didn't know about the sale)

I don't know if its the same in your state.

(nice to see you again by the way! )

I can only speak in general terms; each state may have its own laws and terms.
If a property is owned by two or more people, the only way one can sell is with the agreement of all other interested parties. Having said that, I also say that if one or more of the parties want to sell, that owner can force the sale through the courts. ( I have forgotten the term for this, possibly "partition sale.") When this is done, the property is usually auctioned off. This does not mean that one or more of the other owners cannot bid on it. Naturally, an owner(s) would have an advantage over any non-owners at such an auction, since they wouldn't have to come up with as much money. (A bank will take in account ppartial ownership when financing such a loan. They love those, since their outlay, or risk, is less for the same secured property.)

The mortgage is secured to the property, but not to anyone whose name is not on the document. (Example: If both parties walk away from the property, the bank holding the mortgage forecloses, sells the home (usually for less than its value), and any balance leftover after the sale is still owed by the person whose name is on teh mortgage. The other person, even an owner, not having signed a mortgage, cannot be held accountable for that balance.

What Shel said is correct. Lawyers always want signatures from everyone involved to protect their client from possible litigation. Having those signatures does not stop a law suit, but it does make it hard to claim lack of knowledge about a sale.

And, yes, it is nice to se you again, NC. Of course, it's always nice to see Shel.

The realtor I am using had me sign the listing agreement and said my wife's signature was not needed. She is a co-owner on the mortgage. Her name is on the title. This realtor said we can list the house without her knowledge and then if we get an offer and she doesn't want to sell, we can go to court and force her to sell. A divorce is pending. Now however, my wife is agreeable to selling the house but does not want to use this unscrupulous realtor. We have another realtor we want to use but this realtor will not let go of our listing. What can we do?

In Illinois, when you use a realtor to sell a house, you sign an agreement (a contract) stating certain terms (commission, willingness to allow the seller access to the home, etc.). One of the terms is a specific time limit limiting the length of the contract, usually 90 days. Once that time limit is up, you can go to another realtor. Check real estate laws in California. They may be similar.

Like DG stated, you have a contract. You can always hold firm on your price and if no one buys it for your asking price, the contract will run out and you can then change realtors.

One draw back, I don't think you can't sell to anyone that had made an offer under the old realtor. There may be other leagal ramification that I don't know about.

Mind you, you might be able to get a release from the realtor. Would he/she want the devious plan mentioned to the real estate board?