My 32-year-old daughter finally bought a house with her boyfriend — but his dad is on the deed and I’m worried about what might happen if they break up. Should I be concerned?

But let’s say your 32-year-old daughter and her long-term boyfriend were finally able to pull the trigger this year and bought their first place together. The house is now warmed and they’re fully settled — only now it’s come to light that the boyfriend’s father’s name is on the deed. That could make for a messy situation, so it’s important to understand what that may mean for your daughter — and whether you both ought to be worried.

What it means when someone’s name is on the deed to a home

Before you panic on your daughter’s behalf, there are a lot of unknowns. It is possible for a person — in this case, the boyfriend's father — to be listed on a deed to a home but not the mortgage. But there's not a lot of upside in that scenario for anyone other than the father.

When your name is on the deed to a home, that makes you a legal owner of that property and gives you the right to occupy or sell it. If you’ve discovered that your daughter’s boyfriend’s father is on the deed to the home they bought together, then chances are, he's on the mortgage too, and everyone agreed to purchase and own the home jointly.

Now on the one hand, if that's the case, it means your daughter's boyfriend's father is on the hook for making mortgage payments. That gives your daughter and boyfriend some protection. On the other hand, things can get tricky when there's a third owner — in this case, the father — involved.

If the father decided he wants to sell the home to make a profit and your daughter and her boyfriend want to stay, things could get messy, since the father has a legal claim to the property.

Thing could get even messier if it's only the father’s name on the deed, since that would make him the sole owner of the home. However, if your daughter is paying part of the mortgage, then chances are, she’s on the deed, too, unless something incredibly shady went down.

And of course any time family members enter into a financial arrangement, there’s the potential for relationships to sour. Your daughter and her boyfriend might also end up in a bad spot if the father isn’t occupying the home now but decides he needs to in the future for financial reasons of his own. As a partial owner, he has that right, but it could cause lots of conflict if that goes against your daughter’s wishes.

How to protect yourself in a joint homeownership situation

Co-buying relationships — especially for those seeking a foothold on the property ladder — have been on the rise in recent years. But they do pose problems when things change or someone wants out.

Hopefully, your daughter, her boyfriend and the father worked out an agreement in advance and the three are all aligned on what will happen if the pair should ever split. But it’s not enough to just verbally agree to a plan, ideally they put something in writing.

The problem with having a third party — in this case, the boyfriend's father — on a deed is that he’s a legal co-owner of the home. If you’re entering into a similar arrangement for the financial benefit (such as help in paying the mortgage and making a down payment), you’ll want to map out a legal contract that outlines the terms.

That contract should cover points such as: