Let me first start by saying,I know a family member will have to get a lawyer locally to help in her case but I thought I would ask those in the know here. A couple years ago, a family member on the wife's side who has a home that was left to her by her mother years prior,(was paid off in full/clear), other than the yearly taxes/insurance this family member has to pay now. This family member was diagnosed with late stage cancer years ago and it did not look like she had long to go in this world. So, at that time, money was tight for her and she had little savings and no job, backstory- as she moved to take care of her mother until she passed away and spent most of the money she had.

So, she decided to self-mortgage her house,( the one that was given to her by her mother), out to a buyer as she was too sick to maintain a job due to chemo and radiation tx and this is the stupid/crazy part of it all. She found a buyer for the home that would pay her so much a month, until the house was paid off while they both lived there(like a roommate). They also had a legal agreement/contract in writing signed by both parties, that this family member could stay there as long as she wanted while the house was being paid off(she called it an indefinite lease). I guess the buyer could not get a mtg. loan on his own,(I don't know the specifics and really don't want to know as it is her business).

The buyer has been paying her so much each month on an agreed upon price of the home and has been paying all of the other bills/taxes/insurance for the past 3 years he has been living there/buying the house. At first, he, the buyer, was nice and was helpful to her. For the past year, he has been getting harder to get along with in that while she is sleeping in her room, he makes a lot of noise-slamming pots/pans together and then would ask her later in the day if she was hearing any of the racket, would follow her around the house when she had phone calls and would listen in,etc.. It got to the point she bought a small bed and for the most part moved into her closet in her bedroom as to have somewhere quiet to rest.


I found out today, she said she found a new smoke alarm/detector in her hallway just outside her room,( she has a deadbolt on her door to keep him out ). He said he was unable to direct wire it and would have to do it later as he will be gone for a while due to his job. She told him I could fix it, as I have done many things for her/him to the house free of charge to save them both money as he is usually away on business. Anyway, she was skeptical about it and after he left she took it down and saw it was hard wired. She did some more digging into the detector and looked up the model number on line and found it was actually a CAMERA and not a detector like he told her.

She also stated me today, he tricked/threatened her into getting his name on the title/deed of the home last week as he would get a loan to pay off the rest of the money he owes and throw her out.She was scared and took the contract HE had drawn up with them both to the court house and changed the title/deed to add his name to it. So now it is in both of their names as "AND" but not either/or. Now the questions I have are what can she do about all of this? He has not paid off the agreed upon price of the home , as it has only been 3 years, but threatens to have her thrown out. I think is trying to set her up to get her declared mentally incompetent of which she is perfectly fine, other than being too trusting. I bet he figured she would not last this long and was trying to take advantage of her. She is totally stressed out. I told her this was not a good idea from the get go but I understood her situation of needing money to help pay bills as we helped all we could. What options does she have? Sorry about the long post.

Without the documents and details of the various events, there is no way to tell what a mess this is, but one can be fairly confident that it is one.

If the deed in her name AND his name is intended or interpreted to be joint tenancy with right of survivorship, so that title passes to the survivor (by whatever name it is called there), she can prevent that by executing a new deed, but you have to be careful how it is vested, and include a statement of its purpose, to break the joint tenancy. This may vary in Florida, as I do not know custom and practice there.

So, get her to the lawyer without further delay and get started.

I agree with JAllen. This is undoubtedly a horrific mess, but it is impossible to say just how much of one without reviewing the documents that were involved, and hearing about the facts in great detail. The exact words used in the various documents will be critical.

We aren't ducking - this is impossible to analyze on this amount of information presented.

Florida lawyer - I agree with the assessments above. The specific wording of the documents will control a great deal. She definitely needs a lawyer to evaluate whether the recent transaction was made under duress and whether she has grounds for an injunction against him. Florida also has strong statutory protections for the elderly and infirm against abuse and exploitation, which should be considered.

Thanks for the responses. I try to help her out with things but sometimes she does things out of the blue and without thinking as she is under a lot of duress. There are a few other things coming to light and appreciate all of the info.. Hopefully she will get on the ball and get this taken care of soon.

In case you needed additional confirmation, I agree with all of the above. She has rights, but what rights exactly those are depends on the agreements. And based on what you've told us, time is of the essence.

Florid real estate lawyer here. Send me an email with the property address and your phone number.