Dallas-Fort Worth Real Estate Investor Club

Divorce: He gave her the house; he's got the mortgage, she's got the deed.

  • 20 Sep 2013 4:57 PM
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    Message # 1394638
    Deleted user
    How do you wangle this? 

    She stopped paying. Says she wants nothing to do with the house anymore. Code Compliance is going after her, but the lender's going after him.

    SHE WON'T SIGN OVER THE DEED SO HE CAN SELL IT. After 7 years, she still wants to gig him.

    Can she be forced? End-run? Bribed? Cajoled? Reasoned with? Guilt-tripped by the kids? 
  • 20 Sep 2013 9:40 PM
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    Reply # 1394770 on 1394638
    Michael Mixon
    I'm no expert on divorce law, but that sounds VERY strange to me.  Have you done a title search to verify?
  • 22 Sep 2013 6:14 PM
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    Reply # 1395714 on 1394638
    Bret Allen
    Unfortunately this happens all too often. He may want to consider going back to family court to seek modification of the court order that gave her the house in the first place.   Maybe he can force her that way.  I am not a family law attorney and not sure if that will work, but I am an attorney that spends most of his day representing banks and loan servicing companies.   If he wants to sell the property he will need a deed from her to him.  If he cannot persuade her (pay her for the deed) then he is going to get foreclosed on.  This problem happened because the gentleman had poor legal advice from his divorce attorney and failed to get off the debt when he gave up his ownership rights to the property.

    Good luck!

    Bret
  • 23 Sep 2013 5:23 AM
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    Reply # 1396061 on 1394638
    Deleted user
    Brett is right. I've run across this several times. The divorce decree gives her the house, and even though it says she is 100% responsible for the remaining debt on the house, the the debt stayed in both their names (banks have to be legally forced to remove the party who moves out from the loan, and even then half the time they report negatively on the non-resident when the resident occupant [wife] is late with payments). 

    I'd suggest pay her to move out and turn over the deed or go back to court asap (more expensive).

    -Greg

    Greg Wilson
    The REI Mentor
  • 23 Sep 2013 9:27 AM
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    Reply # 1396187 on 1394638
    Bob Jones
    I have personal experience with this situation. Several years ago I went through a "nasty" divorce. After the final decree she was granted the house and then proceeded to move out of state and never made another payment. The lender refused to release me from the mortgage, because they knew who the responsible party with a job was...me. I had to go back to court and prove she had abandoned the house and was not making payments. They ordered that the house be sold by a court appointed real estate attorney and the proceeds divided. He sold the house for the loan balance and fees, so much for the $30,000 in equity. The late payments remained on my credit report for years, but at least I avoided a foreclosure on my report. The best lessons are learned through life experience. Bob Jones
  • 24 Sep 2013 10:28 AM
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    Reply # 1397134 on 1394638
    Deleted user
    Thanks guys. Makes me happier every day that my ex wife and I were so adult about our situation back in 2000. Clean, no-fault, names removed, names added, no rancor, fair split. As opposed to this sorry situation. The best part is, he'll give it to me for debt owed and I can probably convince him to bring money to the closing table just to get out of the situation. 

    The bad news? a> she may want to drag this into hell just to watch it burn  b> the house WAS a vintage 1930 jewelbox in the heart of the historic district of old Mansfield. Now it will have to be either gutted to the rafters and rebuilt. or torn down and rebuilt with salvage. The husband has friends at Code Compliance who are keeping things at bay; ordinarily they'd have condemned the property years ago.  If it weren't for the funky charm and the rising value of the area I would have run on first glance. 
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