B Creating Joint Ownership

Policy

Placing another person's name on an asset may limit the availability of the resource or the customer’s right to sell or dispose of the resource. For example, this may happen when adding the other person's name requires that the person agree to the sale or disposal of the resource where no such agreement was needed before.

When the customer places another person’s name on real property as a joint owner, the value of the other owner’s interest in the property is a transfer.

NOTE      Adding another person's name to the title of a financial account usually does not change the customer’s access to the funds. However, the title change must be reviewed to ensure that the customer’s access has not been restricted, and the actual use of the funds must be reviewed for possible transfers.

Review how resources are titled to determine whether or not a transfer has occurred.  The following table includes common title language and how it may affect the customer’s ownership and access to the resource:

See Creating Joint Ownership - Examples

Definitions

Proof

When a countable income or resource has been transferred, documents need to be provided to prove:

·         The date of the transfer.  For transfers of real property, the date of transfer is the date the transfer document is signed and notarized, not the date the document is recorded;

·         The person who owned the item both before and after the transfer;

·         The Current Market Value (CMV) of the transferred item or the actual future cash value of income at the time of the transfer; and

·         Any and all legal encumbrances such as debts and liens against the transferred item at the time of the transfer.

Legal Authority