Is probate necessary?

[lm9882]

My grandmother passed away about two years ago. Years prior to this, she had her deed changed via a quitclaim so that her and my dad have joint ownership of the house. Her will also mentioned leaving the house to him. Now, I'm living in the house and my dad and I are discussing adding my name to the deed so that him and I have joint ownership. Do I need to go through probate to do this? I didn't think it was necessary since the house ownership should have defaulted to Dad. However, he seems to think we will still have to go through probate in order to get grandma's name off the deed and my name on.

Edit: Also, I forgot to mention that this house is entirely paid off. There are no outstanding loans that would complicate matters.

 

[Michael Wechsler]

My grandmother passed away about two years ago. Years prior to this, she had her deed changed via a quitclaim so that her and my dad have joint ownership of the house. Her will also mentioned leaving the house to him. Now, I'm living in the house and my dad and I are discussing adding my name to the deed so that him and I have joint ownership. Do I need to go through probate to do this? I didn't think it was necessary since the house ownership should have defaulted to Dad. However, he seems to think we will still have to go through probate in order to get grandma's name off the deed and my name on.

Edit: Also, I forgot to mention that this house is entirely paid off. There are no outstanding loans that would complicate matters.

This is a good question. You may need to go to probate - I don't know what state you are in. Check with the clerk of the court because you will need to have a new deed filed with the clerk of the court in the county no matter what you do. A simple call may do the trick to finding out what you need to take care of this formality.