Quick Claim Deeds and Divorce

Quick Claim Deeds and Divorce

By Keith Bunn Jr.

March 18, 2012

It is a common misconception that when you are going through a divorce and you sign a Quick Claim (Quitclaim) Deed over to your soon to be ex, removing your interest in a particular piece of property, that you will also be released from the mortgage. That is not true!

If your name is still on the mortgage, you are still responsible for that loan if your ex stops making the payments and is then in default. Even your divorce papers don’t release you from the debt in any state. Now if your divorce says that your ex is supposed to make the payments and they don’t, you can then take them back to court for defaulting on a court order and force the sale of the property.

If you are at the beginnings of your divorce, the best thing that you can do is force the sale of the property right away. If there is equity in the property, you can then split up the equity once the property is sold. If there isn’t any equity, put the property up for sale as a short sale. This is where the mortgage company agrees to take less than what is owed as payment in full. This is also just left of a foreclosure so it will leave a ding on your credit score, but this is better than getting those harassing phone calls and letters from the mortgage company yelling at you wanting their money when you thought your ex was paying the bill.

If you’re the one who wants to keep the home, there are some things you have to think of… One: is the house payment going to be more than 25% of your take home pay. If it is, it is too much house for you to handle and it is a foreclosure looking for a place to happen. Two: what does your overall debt look like? In spite of popular belief, it really is cheaper to rent something short term until you get your feet back under you.

For some of you out there, getting a nice check from the sale of some property will help you pay off some or all your debts and you can start on a clean slate so to speak.

Look, I know divorce sucks! I’ve been there myself, but you have to think that this is all part of God’s big plan for you and that you were meant to do something different and even though it is painful right now, life does go on and things will get better! For more information about quick claim deeds go to http://www.nupplegal.com/quitclaimdeed.html

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