The buyer of a property

In general, each buyer’s name should be shown in the contract as the buyer wants the deed to be drawn; each buyer shown on the contract must execute the contract. Other forms of buyer(s) to a contract are as follows:

• Sole owner. A sole owner, sometimes called an owner in severalty, can be single, unmarried, divorced or widowed. At the owner’s death, the property is inheritable, either by will or, if instate, by descent. A sole and separate owner is a married person who owns property in his or her own name while implying the spouse is alive. If the property is a homestead and the owner is survived by a spouse and lineal descendents, the surviving spouse gets a life estate and the lineal descendants are remaindermen. If there are no lineal descendants, the spouse receives a fee simple estate to the homestead.
• Joint tenancy. Ownerships by two or more persons with undivided interests, which means that no individual can identify a particular portion of the property.

• a.     A joint tenancy with right of survivorship, if one party dies, the other owns the property immediately, and the property does not become part of the decedent’s estate.

• b.     A tenancy in common, if one owner dies, his or her share is distributed according to the will or, if no will exists, according to state law.

• Tenancy by the entities. Ownership is by husband and wife, treated as one owner, the marriage. In this case, judgment debts of only one of the parties do not result in a valid lien against the marital property; and, if one spouse dies, the other owns the property immediately. Also, one partner  cannot sell his or her share; both must convey their interests simultaneously.
• The Florida Land Trust. An amazing device which offers numerous benefits to property owners. The two reasons it is not used by every investor are that few know much about it and those who know about it do not know where to obtain trust services at a reasonable cost.

• Trusts in general go back many hundreds of years and today they offer even more benefits than they did when they were invented. The Florida land trust is a statutory form of the "Illinois-type" land trust which has been used for over a hundred years.

• The most important benefits of the land trust are privacy and avoidance of probate. With a land trust, no one needs to know what real estate you own either during your life nor at your death, and by avoiding probate you avoid thousands of dollars in attorney fees and months delay in distribution of your property to your heirs.

• By using a land trust with Land Trust Service Corporation as trustee, there will be no public record of your ownership of the real estate in the trust. The public records will list the corporation as trustee, and the tax bill will be sent to the trustee (who will forward it to you for payment). The property will be managed by you or by your agent. Income tax returns will be filed by you in the same way they would for property in your own name.

• Over twenty other benefits of using a land trust are listed in the book, Land Trusts in Florida, which you should read if you are planning to use a land trust. Some of the most popular benefits are, keeping the sales price secret, keeping liens and judgments off the property, avoiding a spouse's forced share, and avoiding litigation.

• The beneficiary of your trust can be you individually, a corporation, a limited liability company, a partnership or any other legal entity. If you are the beneficiary individually, you can name any other person or entity to immediately become successor beneficiary upon your death. If your company is the beneficiary, you can name a successor in your company papers.

• Besides a beneficiary, you can have a director. For example, you can set up a trust in which your children are the beneficiaries (paying the taxes on income) but you are the director. As director you would make all the decisions regarding the property.

Always consult your lawyer before you make a decision.