My father in law has a home completely paid for. His wife
passed away several years ago and his health has deteriorated to the point that I have became his full guardian, with his permission, in managing his affairs. He presently lives with us. The home is registered in My wifes’ name AND the father in laws’ name. My wife and I want to get a second mortgage on the home to consolidate 20,000 in Credit cards of his and 10 thousand of ours. We would make the payments with our money combined with his. Is this legal? I was under the impression that if guardianship was awarded then I would legally be able to sign his name in any financial transaction. Any comments would be appreciated.
I am commercial real estate agent and while I am not not an expert in the specific legalities of residential real estate, IFRC in most states “joint” ownership (ie both names on the deed in some fashion) can assume several forms. Some forms may allow you to do this and some may not. See a good Real Estate Atty. The 200 - 500 or so you would probably spend for an hour or three consultation will be worth much more in the long run re protecting your backside.
FWIW even if you determine that you can do this, if there are other heirs to this estate I think it would be a good idea to get their agreement that this is a reasonable thing to do. You are essentially putting the home at risk as collateral for the re-payment of the joint credit card debt. If you do this and one the heirs disagrees with this move (as I well might if I were an heir to the estate) then your guardianship could be challenged and possibly stripped away.