Deeds and the release of homestead rights

Increasingly deeds presented for recording contain waivers or releases of homestead. Some are embedded in the text of the deed; others accompany as an attachment. I believe this new trend is a result of the automatic homestead contained in the major revision to our homestead law that occurred back in March. In cases where two spouses jointly own a home and both sign the deed conveying the property, no issue of lingering homestead rights should arise. But where the property is owned by only one spouse, the other would be granted rights in the property by the automatic homestead. When it comes time to sell the property, only the title-holding spouse would normally sign the deed. In such a case, it would seem that the non-titled spouse's homestead rights would continue uninterrupted. To put an end to those rights, attorneys increasingly are having the non-titled spouse sign something that clearly relinquishes any such homestead rights. To me, this is a bit of a throwback to the age of dower, that ancient practice that protected the property rights of the wife in the event of the earlier death of the husband. If you look at almost any deed from the 19th century, you will see that the non-titled spouse "releases rights of dower." I see this new homestead-releasing practice as being much like that practice. Here at Middlesex North, we're treating this kind of release of homestead as a basic part of the deed and are not deeming it to create a "multiple document." I suspect at some other registries, the multiple document rule will be invoked and the fee for such deeds will become $125 for the deed and $75 for the release of the homestead for a total recording fee of $200.