I'm a little lost on exceptions to the successor in interest rules and asking if you would please guide me? If a husband or wife both own a home and one dies (where the survivor already has an ownership interest as a joint tenant), does this still trigger the successor in interest requirements? Would it make a difference if the surviving spouse is not libel for the loan, as surviving spouse didn't sign the Note?

It depends. Was it a joint tenant with the right of survivorship? If not, successor in interest would include the heirs of the deceased. If the spouse was one of the joint tenants but they are not on the loan, then yes, the spouse would be a successor in interest also.

Randy, yes our loan docs indicate it was a right of survivorship. So I’m thinking that because there was already an undivided and pre-existing ownership and not due to “A transfer by devise, descent, or operation of law on the death of a joint tenant or tenant by the entirety” or “A transfer to a relative resulting from the death of the consumer,” that either the rules (1) don’t apply or (2) might apply but the surviving spouse is already established by the right of survivorship. But, in thinking further, based on the text of1026.39, the surviving spouse is still a borrower and obligated to pay the debt, why would any of the regiment if there is a co-borrower still liable. Am I on track?

1024.31—Definitions
Successor in interest means a person to whom an ownership interest in a property securing a mortgage loan subject to this subpart is transferred from a borrower, provided that the transfer is:
(1) A transfer by devise, descent, or operation of law on the death of a joint tenant or tenant by the entirety;
(2) A transfer to a relative resulting from the death of a borrower;
(3) A transfer where the spouse or children of the borrower become an owner of the property;
(4) A transfer resulting from a decree of a dissolution of marriage, legal separation agreement, or from an incidental property settlement agreement, by which the spouse of the borrower becomes an owner of the property; or
(5) A transfer into an inter vivos trust in which the borrower is and remains a beneficiary and which does not relate to a transfer of rights of occupancy in the property.

Commentary - Paragraph 2(a)(27)
2(a)(27)(i) Successor in interest.
1. Joint tenants and tenants by the entirety. If a consumer who has an ownership interest as a joint tenant or tenant by the entirety in a dwelling securing a closed-end consumer credit transaction dies, a surviving joint tenant or tenant by the entirety with a right of survivorship in the property is a successor in interest as defined in § 1026.2(a)(27)(i).

1026.39—Mortgage transfer disclosures.
(f) Successor in interest. If, upon confirmation, a servicer provides a confirmed successor in interest who is not liable on the mortgage loan obligation with a written notice and acknowledgment form in accordance with Regulation X, § 1024.32(c)(1), the servicer is not required to provide to the confirmed successor in interest any written disclosure required by paragraph (b) of this section unless and until the confirmed successor in interest either assumes the mortgage loan obligation under State law or has provided the servicer an executed acknowledgment in accordance with Regulation X, § 1024.32(c)(1)(iv), that the confirmed successor in interest has not revoked.

Oops? "regiment" = "requirement' apply"

why would any of the regiment (requirement) if there is a co-borrower still liable.

What co-borrower? You said nothing about a co-borrower. You said the spouse was not a borrower. Is there another borrower that is still alive?

If not, then the surviving spouse is the successor in interest because they own the home that secures a loan in which the borrower is dead. They either do something about that loan (pay it off, refinance it, assume it) or the bank is going to take the property through foreclosure. The lender needs to work with the spouse under the successor of interest requirements.

Yes, I’m sorry. I found out yes, indeed, the surviving spouse is a borrower, and the only other one. So in this case, do you consider that the Bank’s notification requirements do or don’t apply (the notifications acknowledging and notifying the surviving spouse’s status as a successor of interest)?

They do not apply as she both owns the property and is legally liable for the existing loan. The fact that a co-borrower passes away is not really a consideration under the successor in interest rules.

Randy, thanks. I appreciate your help.