Death of an Owner?

It's a fact of life that people die, and the question often comes up, "Why can't you take the deceased person's name off the account?" As with any other case, we need to see the change made in the County records before we can make the corresponding change in our records. The paperwork involved varies depending on the situation, but this is generally a pretty easy change to make. We'll list here the most common situations we see and what to do about them. Please note that you can do any of this paperwork yourself, or have an attorney do it. If you don't wish to do it, and don't want to pay an attorney, we can usually do it for you, for our cost. If you don't find an amount on this page, you will probably find it listed here.

John Smith and Mary Jones (who may or may not have been married) owned the unit. John Smith passed away.
If the Deed for the unit/week says that John Smith and Mary Jones were joint tenants with rights of survivorship (or husband and wife, if that was the case), then the only thing that needs to be done is to record a certified copy of John's death certificate in Broward County, along with a cover sheet that designates the full legal description of the property. You can do this yourself, you can have an attorney do it for you, or we can do it for our cost ($55). In this situation, you can send us a certified copy of the death certificate (you will get it back), along with a note asking us to record it, and a check made out to Canada House for $55, and we will take care of everything and return your paperwork to you when it's finished.

John and Mary Smith owned the unit/week together. They were married. On the title to the unit/week, there is language that indicates they were married at the time they purchased the property (e.g.: "husband and wife", "a married couple," "his wife", "her husband", or something along those lines).
In this case, as with the joint tenants shown above, the only thing that needs to be recorded is a cover sheet and the certified copy of John's death certificate. Again, if you'd like for us to take care of it, please send the death certificate with your check for $45 (made out to Canada House), and we will handle it from there, returning your originals to you when we receive them back from the County.

John and Mary Smith owned the unit/week together. They were married, but there is no language on the title to the property indicating that that was the case.
Unfortunately, the assumption that John and Mary Smith were married cannot be made -- after all, I still have the same last name as my brother, and it's not out of the realm of possibility that we could buy property together. In this instance, John's death certificate needs to be recorded with a Continuous Marriage Affidavit (CMA). This is simply a sworn statement that Mary signs in front of a Notary, saying that she and John were married at the time they bought the property, and they were married continuously until the time he died -- which means the property passes to her unless he has a will that designates otherwise. As with all legal documents, you can have this paperwork taken care of by an attorney, or do it yourself, or we can do it for you for our cost - in this case, $75. Since you will need to sign the CMA before it can be recorded, please send your request to the Canada House with your check -- but do not include the death certificate. When you return the completed CMA to us, you will send the death certificate at that time. As usual, you will receive the original recorded documents after we get them back from the County.

-->> Please keep in mind that if Mary is not planning to be the sole owner of the property (for example, she is signing it over to her kids, or perhaps adding someone to the title with her), there will also be a Quitclaim Deed involved. Please see the information here and here for more information.