Can the widow of a deceased spouse sign a seller’s contract if she isn’t on the loan but is on the deed?
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Can the widow of a deceased spouse sign a seller’s contract if she isn’t on the loan but is on the deed?
I signed a seller’s contract to sell my home after only 2 days on the market. I can’t find a place to live and as a widow with health issues, so I need to back out of the contract. I want to know if I can legally sign the sellers contract with
out a will and I’m not on the loan but the deed. I want to keep my home because I can’t find a place to live.
Asked on June 6, 2017 under Real Estate Law, Missouri
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 6 years ago | Contributor
The loan has nothing to do with ownership or the right to sell the property. (The loan will need to be paid out of the proceeds of the sale, but that's the only connection between the loan and the sale.) If you were on the deed and were the only surviving owner, then you had the legal right to sell the property and the contract you signed will be binding on you. It does not matter, legally, that you have no place else to go or have health issues: those issues, to be blunt, are your issues only, not the buyers', and the buyers do not need to take any account of them. Based on what you have written, you signed an enforceable contract and could be sued if you don't go through with it.
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