What happens to the house if one of the owners dies?

If you have doubts related to real estate or credits, you can count on the free and specialized support of Poupança no Minuto's credit intermediaries.

In case of ownership

In case the property was acquired without financing, and one of the owners dies, the part of the house they owned will go to the closest family members. This also applies if there is no will.

Thus, the law stipulated in the Civil Code is applied and the inheritance of the property is divided among the legitimate heirs. In this case, the legislation determines the following hierarchy among the heirs.

1. Spouse and descendants (children);  

1. Spouse and ascendants (parents);

1. Brothers and their descendants;

1. Other family members to 4th degree.

1. State.

In other words, if the deceased was married and/or had children, they are the ones entitled to the real estate property in the first place. In case of not having children, the right goes to the parents.

If there are no relatives up to the 4th degree to claim the right to property, it is delivered to the State.

In case of housing credit.

If the other property owner dies, in the case of a housing loan, they are protected by life insurance.

When hiring a mortgage, banks always require you to take out life insurance in order to approve the loan and ensure themselves in these cases. Therefore, in the event of non-compliance due to death or disability of the policyholder, the insurer guarantees the repayment of the debt to the bank.

For this, banks require that this insurance has certain basic coverages, such as coverage for death by accident or illness and coverage for Absolute and Permanent Disability - IAD (incapacity equal to or greater than 80% resulting from illness or accident). Then you can choose the coverage for Total and Permanent Disability - ITP (degree of incapacity equal to or greater than 60%, due to illness or accident). The latter is more comprehensive in that the IAD coverage implies a more extreme disability.

In any case, in the event of the death of one of the mortgage holders, due to the mandatory life insurance coverage, the repayment of the loan is guaranteed.

In case of lease agreement

But what if the property in which the owner lived was leased? In this case, the lease expires and the property must be returned to the owner.

However, know that, while spouse or descendant living in the property with the tenant at the time of death, have the right to transmit the lease.

To do this, you must send to the landlord, within three months, a copy of the supporting documents of the transmission, such as the death certificate, marriage certificate for the spouse, and birth certificate for any children.

If not done within the established deadline, you may incur losses, but you are not prevented from carrying out the transmission.

If you need help dealing with real estate or credit issues, count on the Poupança no Minuto. We guarantee a free, professional service tailored to your situation. We are here to help, without costs and without complications.