You are mixing two legal concepts up. Cosigning merely means another person agrees to be liable for a certain debt; it does not create any ownership interest. Another person on title means they have an ownership interest but are not necessarily liable for any debts. So if it is the latter situation, you are not liable for your brother's debts, but if he gave the lender a security interest in your house, the lender can go against that asset. If you brother borrowed money but did not put up any part of his interest in the property, it is an unsecured debt and the lender can not go against the house until they get a judgment against your brother and then the lender can go after the house as being one of his assets. If you did put your brother on title, and he is not willing to reconvey his interest back to you [quit claim deed easiest way], then you have a major problem. You would have to prove in court, after filing suit, that you did not realize you were giving him title. His lenders might try to sue to argue it was a fraudulent transfer for him to give back full title to you. You need to speak to a real estate attorney to determine what your status is and what can be done. Then see if your brother is willing to go along, or will he force you to pay off part of the debt. If the debt is smaller than the cost of filing suit and hiring an attorney, it may be wiser to pay that part of the debt by saying you are buying his interest, so it will at least increase the basis on that part of the house to save some capital gains taxes, but you have to be sure it does not result in a re-appraisal of the entire house causes your taxes to go up.
Answered on Mar 15th, 2017 at 7:42 AM