Location: St Louis, MO
Long post incoming…
I’m looking for legal advice (Missouri-specific if possible) regarding a real estate issue with my husband that feels deceptive and deeply unfair. This has come to light in recent events due to him asking for a divorce.
We recently moved states (for his job) and bought a house together. We both signed the escrow documents and jointly wired the earnest money. We had multiple conversations with the title company, making it clear that the deed should be in both of our names.
Because I couldn’t be physically present at closing, I gave my husband a power of attorney (PoA) so he could sign for me. The first PoA was rejected by Missouri, so I executed a revised one. Despite all of this, he titled the property solely in his name.
Some important context:
• The mortgage is in his name, and he’s paid the mortgage, utilities, and bills. I’ve covered groceries, furnishings, and other shared expenses.
• He earns significantly more, so this division felt fair at the time. I assumed we were building a shared life—not that he was intentionally excluding me from ownership.
• We have a prenuptial agreement with clauses that I believe support my right to joint ownership. Two key excerpts:
“If the parties jointly acquire assets following their marriage, they will each own an undivided one-half interest in the jointly acquired assets as their respective sole and separate property, regardless of the percentage of their respective contributions toward the purchase of the assets. […] they will obtain title in their joint names.”
“If title is not properly vested due to oversight or failure, the parties agree to feed such title as necessary to reflect their joint interest.”
My questions:
• Can I legally challenge the deed and be added based on the prenup and the PoA?
• Does the title company bear any responsibility here, since they knew the deed should include both names?
• Can this be corrected with a title amendment, or is this a civil matter that would need to go to court?
I’m devastated and trying to understand what recourse I have. Any insight would be greatly appreciated—especially from those familiar with Missouri law or prenup enforcement.
Thank you.
Comments
This is seemingly solvable:
I can’t really imagine any space outside those two. But in general you can’t resolve a dispute between spouses in litigation.
And no. You can’t try to pursue a title company because they relied on your POA the way you told them to.
Why do you think you legally need to do anything? Unless you are divorcing none of this matters, and it that is the case then one of you will buy the other out of the property. This is a marital problem not a legal one.
Your husband can certainly execute a quitclaim deed to add you to the title. If he wants to.
Missouri does require that spouses sign the deed to sell the marital home. Between that, your prenup, and the fact that the home was purchased during the marriage, you realistically have a very strong financial interest in the home.