Wife of deceased is not on title , but wants equity loan

[Nye Eddings]

Hi BP!

I hope all is going well for everyone.  

I came across a situation and thought I'd use my favorite source for direction:

The owner of the house passed away over 15 years ago and name was on title/mortgage.  The surviving spouse simply paid off mortgage overtime (deceased spouse name remained on mortgage) The mortgage is now paid off but the surviving  spouse wants to pull a line of credit from the house to do repairs.  What will be the issues for the spouse, who never officially put name on deed/title, to get a equity line of credit from house?

Thanks in advance!

[Rick H.]

@Jim Y. Sorry, that won't fly. 

One of the elements of an adverse possessor is that they must be "hostile and adverse." This is NOT POSSIBLE if you are an heir, successor in interests, gave any beneficial interest or have any fiduciary duties as executor, administrator, personal rep or trustee, receiver, etc.

This is an area that I'm pretty exoerience in.

The bigger issue is that the original poster knows soneone who wishes to pledge an assets as collateral which they do no have title to. That's the fundamental problem. Lenders want collateral that they can easily liquidate to satisfy a debt.

"If wishes were fishes, all men would eat."