Legal-Ease: I changed my name, do I need a new property deed?

Regardless of how the circumstance arises, some people own property that is titled in a name by which a person is no longer known.

For instance, an engaged couple named Brady and Sydney may purchase a house together. Later, the couple marries, and Sydney changes Sydney’s last name to match her spouse’s last name (replacing Sydney’s maiden name with Sydney’s married name).

After Brady and Sydney’s wedding (and Sydney’s name change), is there a risk that Sydney’s legal ownership of the house is in jeopardy since Sydney’s legal name is not the name in which Sydney owns the house?

The answer is “no.” Although it can cause confusion if not properly, eventually explained sometime in some future document at the courthouse, when someone changes his or her name, that person need not change the name on the property’s deed to match that person’s new legal name.

Nevertheless, there is no prohibition on retitling property so that a deeded owner’s name matches the owner’s current legal name. Even though a local government office recently argued with my office about people’s ability to deed property from themselves to themselves, the law clearly and unquestionably allows people to transfer property from themselves to themselves (explaining the former name and current name in the deed) to ensure that the name of the people in title matches the owners’ legal names.

A person’s deeding of property from himself/herself to himself/herself to ensure consistency between the person’s legal name and the name of the person who owns property can be particularly important for a person who gets reimbursed by an employer for some/all of the person’s real estate taxes. In this circumstance specifically (as well as in other instances), if the owner’s legal name and name on the deed do not match, challenges can arise.

For example, if “Sydney Jones” is asking for reimbursement of a real estate tax bill in the name of “Sydney Smith,” Sydney may struggle to get reimbursed.

Retitling property so that the owner’s legal name matches the owner’s name on the deed is not legally necessary before refinancing a mortgage or selling property.

Consistent with the example above, if Brady and Sydney refinance their mortgage after Sydney’s name is changed, the mortgage that identifies Sydney will identify Sydney as “Sydney former name” now known as (or the letters NKA) “Sydney current name.” If this explanation is typewritten into the mortgage, Sydney can simply sign her new name on the mortgage with no legal confusion.

Likewise, in the sale of a home that is deeded/titled in a person’s former name, the confusion of inconsistent names is easily (and almost universally) remedied by having Sydney sign her current, legal name followed by the words “formerly known as” (or the letters FKA) followed by Sydney’s maiden name in the deed selling the house. Of course, if the explanation of the former and current, legal name is typed out in the deed, Sydney can simply sign her current, legal name with no resulting legal confusion.

Lee R. Schroeder is an Ohio licensed attorney at Schroeder Law LLC in Putnam County. He limits his practice to business, real estate, estate planning and agriculture issues in northwest Ohio. He can be reached at [email protected] or at 419-659-2058. This article is not intended to serve as legal advice, and specific advice should be sought from the licensed attorney of your choice based upon the specific facts and circumstances that you face.