A Reverse Mortgage On Your Home Sweet Home

Lois Risse is 101 years old and lives in a place she has called home for over 40 years. Shortly after her husband died, Risse sold her and her late husband’s home for $60,000 to Glenn Neff, a family friend. The agreement was handwritten and included the sale of the home and its contents dated January 1983. In January of 1985, another statement was added to the deed. The paragraph explained that Neff had paid in full, and upon Lois Risse’s passing the deed would pass to Neff and be recorded. Both Risse and Neff signed the document January 1, 1985 and it was notarized March 29, 1985. However, neither party has evidence of payment. In fact, Risse claims “‘[h]e never paid me a dime.'”

Neff claims he paid Risse in cash over a two-year period. Neff also orally agreed to let Risse live in the house for the remainder of her life. However, Neff did not abide by the written agreement and recorded the deed ahead of time. The same day the deed was recorded the court hired Melodie Scott to handle Risse’s accounts. Risse lives off of a $249 dollar Social Security check. As a result, Scott attempted to take out a reverse mortgage, but was not permitted to take this action because Neff had already recorded the deed. Risse sued Neff and the trial court determined that the sale was valid. The court reasoned that had the reverse mortgage been obtained before the deed was recorded it would have been effective despite the recording. However, that was not the case. Additionally, the property owner is the one who can get a reverse mortgage and because the deed is in Neff’s name he is the property owner.

See Greg Cappis, Yucaipa Women, 101, Battling Home Over Handwritten Deed, sbsun.com, Mar. 16, 2013.

Special thanks to Brian Cohan (Attorney at Law, Law Offices of Brian J. Cohan, P.C.) for bringing this to my attention.