Posted by JS_CA on 6/14/05 12:50pm
Msg #44549

DOT Question

Hello,

I'm sort of a newbie here. I mostly lurk and learn and hopefully try not to ask dumb questions. But this maybe one. I did my 3rd signing last night for IndyMac Bank. On the DOT it listed both spouse's names and requried their sigs. Only the wife indicated the husband should not be on the DOT and he was not on the loan docs otherwise.

She then had to pull out all her title and DOT paperwork from prior loans and call the LO. Of course at 6:30 PM no LO is in the office. My experience though is that for CA it is all because they consider spouses to be joint tenants no matter if they are named or not due to CA community property laws.

Does anyone know how to explain this better? I was a little nervous on what I could even tell her as I was just there to witness and notarize the signing. I basically explained to her her RTC and that if there was an issue and if the docs were wrong she could use her RTC.

Any info would be great, I didn't see anything on this board about this during a search.

Thanks in advance.

Jina

Reply by ColleenCA on 6/14/05 1:00pm
Msg #44555

On the DOT, regardless of who is actually taking out the loan, anyone who appears on the deed must sign it as well. Hope this helps.

Reply by JS_CA on 6/14/05 1:03pm
Msg #44557

Thanks Colleen. The whole issue surrounded the fact that the wife indicated the husband should not be on the deed at all.

Reply by TN Notary on 6/14/05 1:07pm
Msg #44559

The State of TN is a spousal state which the spouse must always be and sign the DOT. You did good by going back to the RTC. What was the outcome?

Reply by SamIam_CA on 6/14/05 1:07pm
Msg #44558

Try thread 35300. Some useful info there about NObS - non obligated spouse(s)s. The LO must have pulled the husbands name out from somewhere to get it onto the DOT. I think that you did the right thing.

Reply by JanetK/CA on 6/14/05 3:42pm
Msg #44612

It's my understanding that in California the name on the DOT needs to match how the vesting was last recorded. I had a similar situation last week, where the loan was in the husband's name only and so was the DOT, but they stated that they had "filed something else" (e.g. Grand Deed) with the County Recorder adding her onto the deed. We ended up having to have the documents redrawn and rescheduling the appointment.

If you weren't able to reach someone, I don't think there was anything else you could have done. If they don't sign the docs, there is a 100% chance that it won't close. If they sign and there is a problem, either they will be able to fix it or it won't close anyway. Making corrections on a DOT is generally a no-no. Probably won't record. (There are exceptions to almost everything and I'm not going to presume to be expert enough - nor do I have the time - to try to get into that...)

One more thing: even though California is a community property state, it IS possible and not uncommon for a property to be listed in only one person's name, if it was purchased before marriage or if the proper deeds have been filed to register it as such (QC or GD or...?) That's something that's not up to us to worry about.

Reply by JS_CA on 6/14/05 5:35pm
Msg #44636

Re: DOT Question - Thanks Everyone!

Thanks everyone for the input. They ended up signing and all is well so far.

Thanks again!

Jina