Wife’s house - my rental. Keeping wife protected

[Peter Green]

My (soon-to-be) wife and I both own a home. My intention has always been to lease mine eventually, and now that I’m getting married, hers as well. I’ve never leased a house to anyone.

My questions are: Do we need to put my name on her title so I can lease it out? But, more importantly, if we leave only her name on the title, can she ever be sued?

The house is outside of Kansas City, Missouri in Independence, MO, if that helps.

[Michael King]

I wouldn't worry about litigation. From what I've been seeing on the forum, some suggest getting an LLC to put it in to protect you from litigation (well it would only protect your other assets that are not in the same LLC, and so long as you keep everything separate and don't pierce the corporate veil). Others say simply getting a sufficient umbrella insurance policy is enough to protect your assets.

And then if you do work to the title, you better make sure you get written permission from the lender first. 

In all practicality you don't need to change the title to rent it out. When you hire a property manager they don't need to be on the title. Without knowing your background, I would suggest using a property manager first so you can lower yourself into the arena, rather than dive off the cliff.

Good luck!