Confused about Quit Claim Deeds (sales, real estate, insurance)

[janey58]

I am in the middle of a divorce and found that my husband, on the day he filed against me, filed a QCD with himself as the grantor and also the grantee. We both are owners of the property, and actually I am listed as owner and he as joint tenant.
I do not understand why he did this,...what benefit would he receive from this act?
What actually takes place legally by doing this? Seems like he is trying to give himself complete ownership.
I know this is not possible, but I am confused about it.

[Littlekw]

In Colorado a QCD is the easy way out of a real estate contract. If he files a QCD and you agree to it, any mortgage that exists between the two of you is granted to you alone. It's basically a cop-out for a co-signer. What it really comes down to is that you are on the hook for the property and the mortgage. He is signing away his rights to the property and "quitting any claim" to it.

I have dealt with this before. I understand that you are co-owners of the property but I'm guessing that you had the better credit that qualified for the loan in the first place? I would suggest securing a good real estate lawyer. It sounds like your husband is trying to dump the real estate assets on you. If a QCD is happening and you can handle the financial obligations of keeping up with the mortgage payments, you're likely to get the house. If not, lawyer-up and countersue. It's a petty scheme to hurt you financially and not being a lawyer, that's all I'll say and leave it to the professionals from here.

[Dreaming of Hawaii]

If your name is on the deed, how can your husband file anything transferring ownership without your signature? Sounds like you need a good lawyer.

[BarryK123]

Originally Posted by Dreaming of Hawaii

If your name is on the deed, how can your husband file anything transferring ownership without your signature? Sounds like you need a good lawyer.

Because in JT TEN, either party can do the transaction alone. I strongly agree with your second sentence.

[jackmichigan]

Originally Posted by Littlekw

In Colorado a QCD is the easy way out of a real estate contract. If he files a QCD and you agree to it, any mortgage that exists between the two of you is granted to you alone. It's basically a cop-out for a co-signer. What it really comes down to is that you are on the hook for the property and the mortgage. He is signing away his rights to the property and "quitting any claim" to it.

I have dealt with this before. I understand that you are co-owners of the property but I'm guessing that you had the better credit that qualified for the loan in the first place? I would suggest securing a good real estate lawyer. It sounds like your husband is trying to dump the real estate assets on you. If a QCD is happening and you can handle the financial obligations of keeping up with the mortgage payments, you're likely to get the house. If not, lawyer-up and countersue. It's a petty scheme to hurt you financially and not being a lawyer, that's all I'll say and leave it to the professionals from here.

HUH?? You're not even close. Re-read the OP.

[jackmichigan]

Originally Posted by janey58

I am in the middle of a divorce and found that my husband, on the day he filed against me, filed a QCD with himself as the grantor and also the grantee. We both are owners of the property, and actually I am listed as owner and he as joint tenant.
I do not understand why he did this,...what benefit would he receive from this act?

Simply put--your husband doesn't know what the heck he is doing.

Who knows what he was thinking? (He probably wasn't.) Maybe he thought he could clear your interest by recording a Deed without your name on it. Whatever he might have been thinking, it doesn't work that way. And to grant a Deed from himself to himself makes absolutely no sense.

Read the Deed by which you obtained ownership. How is it worded? If you're listed as joint tenants (with rights of survivorship?) you are both the owners. (And even if a Deed doesn't happen to show a wife's name on it, in many states she still has an interest in the property.) Just show this info to your divorce attorney--he'll probably get a good laugh out of it.

(And it may work against your husband for apparently trying to do something underhanded.)

[TreeBeard]

Chances are that if you were married at the time you purchased your home, the deed would recite that your purchased it as "husband and wife." If the deed does indeed recite that you hold title as husband and wife, a quit-claim deed would be a nullity as you can not transfer entireties property without jointer of both spouses. JTWRS is a different matter however, at least as to that party's respective fifty percent interest.

[jackmichigan]

Originally Posted by BarryK123

Because in JT TEN, either party can do the transaction alone.

You may be confusing this with Tenants in Common. Typically, with Joint Tenants it is an equal, undivided interest in the property and all parties need to agree to a sale. However, state laws do vary regarding this and apparently some do allow for a joint tenancy to be dissolved by one party. That is usually not the case when the phrase "with rights of survivorship" (or similar language) is added after "Joint Tenants".

Tenants in Common indicates a separate ownership interest which can be readily transferred without the permission of the other owners. With Tenants in Common the ownership can also be apportioned, say, 75% owned by one party and a 25% share owned by another. Also, with Tenants in Common, the ownership interest would pass to the heirs of each owner, so you can end up with a property being owned by many, many individuals. This can result in some sales of real estate being very complicated!

[mbalmedpoet]

This happened to my wife when she was with her ex-husband who simply left her. She presented him with a quit claim deed, stating he had no further right to the house. He was on the loan, and she had to re-finance to get him off of there. He came back several years later thinking he had a right to the house and we presented him with the paperwork showing him that he walked away from it. If he wanted the house, he was welcome to purchase it.

[sunsprit]

you need to clarify if you were as a married couple either:

1) tenants in common, both named on the Deed, or

2) Joint tenants with right of survivorship (JTWRS).

if the former applies, then your ex-to-be can be asserting his interest in the real estate and trying to get it put only into his name via the QCDs. In Colorado courts, that would be an unlikely outcome in the disposition of marital assets. Keep in mind that 1/2 of any appreciation of the house during the time of your marriage and tenancy is yours, so even if you didn't put any money into the transaction of purchasing the house, you still have an equity position by law (if the house has appreciated since purchase). You don't need a real estate attorney, but you should have your own divorce lawyer looking over the assets to be divided.


if the latter applies, you both have an undivided interest in the property. A sale would require both of your signatures, and a QCD wouldn't be valid as the seller without both signing off on it to transfer the sole ownership to your spouse. While there are sometimes financial reasons for a married couple to do this, it's not gonna' fly in Colorado in the context of a transfer of assets in the upcoming divorce split of assets unless agreed to by both as part of an asset settlement. Again, you need a divorce lawyer to clarify your interests and both signatures on the sale QCD assigning ownership to one party.

Keep in mind that an ownership transfer for the Deed of Trust to the property will need Title Insurance. Likely any insurer will catch the defect in the transfer via one party on a QCD from a joint ownership to one party absent a court order or legal agreement to allocate the assets.