Part H · the register

Who Signs the Roof Contract When a Trust or Estate Owns the House

A trust, an estate or a co-owner can hold a Kirkwood house, and the signature on a roof contract has to match the deed.

A roof contract is only as sound as the signature on it. In Kirkwood, a good share of houses are not held in one living person's name. A house may sit in a revocable living trust, in an estate still moving through probate, or with two owners who no longer share a kitchen. When the person who signs a roof contract does not hold legal authority over the house, the job can stall at the permit desk, and a deposit can end up in a dispute nobody planned for. This page covers how to check the owner of record before you set a roof date, and what to put in writing once you have.

Town roofing

Kirkwood sits inside St. Louis County, and the owner shown on a building permit application is normally compared with the county parcel record and the deed on file with the Recorder of Deeds. If the name on the record is not the name of the person across the table, stop and find out why before any shingles are ordered. Kirkwood's permit desk will ask who the owner of record is, and it may want the signature of that person or a written authorization from them. Ask the desk what it needs for a trust, an estate, or a co-owner, because the paperwork is not the same for each and the desk can tell you what it will accept.

Older houses in town change hands through estates more often than newer ones do, and that is where roof work gets delayed. A roof that started leaking before the owner died becomes urgent while the family waits for the court to name who may act for the estate. A roofer may be able to do a short, agreed repair with a family member who can authorize it, but a full tear-off and replacement commits the property in a way a repair does not. Keep those two things separate in the paperwork so nobody assumes that a repair signature covers a new roof.

Trusts, estates and co-owners

A trust is usually signed by a trustee, and the trustee's authority comes from the trust document, not from the trust's name alone. Ask to see the page that names the current trustee and the page that gives that trustee power over real estate. A successor trustee who has taken over after a death may need to show that change before the contract is valid for the house. The same applies to a personal representative in an estate, whose authority comes from the probate court and not from being a family member.

Co-owners raise a different problem. When two people own a house, one signature may not bind the other owner, and the other owner may not agree to replace the roof at all. If the homeowners are divorced or separated, get the written agreement of both before a contract is signed, and find out what the separation or divorce papers say about the house. Keys Roofing can tell you which documents its office needs to see before a contract is drafted, and the number is (314) 220-2333. The office is not giving legal advice, and nothing on this page is a legal opinion.

What it costs

The roof price does not change because of who signs. What changes is the professional time you may need before the contract is valid for the house. An attorney reviewing a trust, a probate filing, or a transfer between co-owners is a separate cost, and it sits outside the roof bid. Get that number before you pick a start date, and ask the attorney for a fixed fee on the review so the cost is known in advance.

Do not let the roof price quietly absorb the cost of a missing signature. A bid with a vague line for paperwork has not priced the work, and it leaves you holding the difference. If a deposit has already been paid and the signer turns out to lack authority, getting the money back is harder than preventing the problem, so settle the question before the deposit moves.

Writing the signer into the proposal

A proposal should name the person who is signing and state the basis for that person's authority. Put the owner of record on the first page with the same spelling used in the deed or trust. If a trustee signs, the proposal should name the trust and the trustee. If two owners are involved, the proposal should show both names and say whether both will sign. A proposal with an unclear signer leaves the crew working for a house whose owner has not agreed to the work in writing.

What to ask

Before any deposit or permit application, ask the roofer and your own advisers these questions:

1. Whose name is on the deed or trust document, and does the person signing hold authority over the house?
2. If the house is in an estate, what does the probate record show about who may act for the property?
3. If there are two owners, will both sign, and is that written into the proposal?
4. Does the permit application match the owner of record exactly, including any trust name?
5. What happens to the job and the deposit if the signer's authority is questioned halfway through?
6. What repairs can be authorized before the full authority is settled, and who signs for them?

Ask for these answers in writing. A promise that the paperwork will sort itself out later is not an answer, and it is the usual reason a roof date slips.