Quit claim deed ? WA state - bought home with gf and now split up. (mortgage, mortgage)
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1. Purchased home together in 20 months ago. Recent split up - very civil and no lawyers / no drama etc... boy friend - girlfriend ( not married )
2. both our names are on the home loan mtg.
3. she has moved and and is not coming back.
4. I can afford the home costs / expenses etc all on my own.
5. I will not be refinancing to remove her off the loan. She will not be making any payments on the loan ever again
6. Please explain the quit claim deed to me so I understand how it applies to me.
7. I doubt it would happen ... but I do not want to make 20 yrs worth of myg payments myself and have her suddenly appear at and think she is entitled to 50% equity in this home.
8. Someday I sell this house ... her name is on the title at closing as is mine. What if she is unavailable or cannot be located in 10-20-30yrs ? Is this what the quit claim protects me from ?
thank you in advance for help answers
and No I do not welcome relationship advice ... this thread is about quit claim deeds and legal RE concers in this situation - thank you
It is lawyer time.
Cheap lawyer time, but still the right way to go to get that 20 year comfort you seek.
And you need counsel regarding the mortgage. You may find that as long as there is a mortgage lien, she has a voice in the property. Her credit is tied to your performance.
And it's not the fact that you don't want to refinance, but she would probably want to to get her name off the mortgage. As it is, it would have a serious effect on her ability to qualify for another mortgage. And although I'm sure you have no intentions of doing so, if you would stop making payments it's going to trash her credit.
A quit claim will not remove her from the mortgage note. Getting someone off the title and getting off the mortgage note are two different things. To get her off the mortgage note the lender has to release her. That's done via a refinance . She is entitled to a share of the equity, if any, in the house. So essentially you have to refi to buy her out. And if there is no equity, you still need to refi. A very slim possibility is that the lender maybe willing to do a reassignment of the mortgage. That means they take her off and leave you on. Not likely to happen, but doesn't hurt to ask.
So two things for you to do. Go talk to your lender and most importantly, speak to an attorney. You need legal help here. There is just no way around that. You want to make sure you are legally unentangled , protected and things are filed correctly. Nothing worse than thinking you were cut loose and she's still there when you want to sell.
1. You need more than a Quit Claim Deed. (Need to be done with a lawyer that both of you will sign). Probably $500 to do. The two of you don't have to be there together.
2. In doing #1, she will be asking you to get her off the mortgage. Whether you can can refi or not will depend on your credit and DTI ratio.
Doing #1 is for your benefit.
Doing #2 is a benefit for her.
Don't expect her to agree to number 1 unless you can do number 2. If she has moved on and has a new SO, don't be surprised if she want money for #1. Your breakup was civil back then but things could have changed.
Your breakup may be amicable today, but 10 years from now when she finds out the house is worth money, will it be then?
Best advice you have seen here is to spend the $500 now for a lawyer. Get the house transferred to you. Get her off the mortgage if at all possible and move on as the sole owner of the home.
It will be a lot more complicated and costly 5 years from now.
I am stunned she is letting her name stay on the mortgage. It will impact her ability to buy a house, car, etc on her own. You need to refinance it into your name so that she can move on. Then she can deed over her part to you.
I am stunned she is letting her name stay on the mortgage. It will impact her ability to buy a house, car, etc on her own. You need to refinance it into your name so that she can move on. Then she can deed over her part to you.
Quote:
5. I will not be refinancing to remove her off the loan. She will not be making any payments on the loan ever again
I think this is OP decision, not her. The EX probably has no idea how having her name on mortgage will affect her ability to obtain credit down the line because of the DTI.
A quitclaim deed is just a deed where the transferor/grantor/seller of the property transfers their interest in the property, whatever that may be, and does not covenant or warrant that their interest is free of encumbrances or that title is clear.
The fact that the deed is a quit claim won't help you if she comes back in 20-30 years.
On Edit: You're in Washington so things may be different there (I'm in NY), but quit claim deeds are something learned about in 1st year of law school so the same general rules probably apply.
Last edited by unctorious; 07-31-2013 at 11:47 AM..
Reason: clarify
You definitely want to take care of this now. I made a mistake, and bought a family members house when I was younger. I just continued to make the payments and I gave them some cash up front. They didn't want much money, since they just bought the house. They really just wanted to be relieved of the monthly payment. Fast forward 5 years. I paid outstanding tax liens on the house. I remodeled it (putting in tons of money). I put it up for sale. Once that family member saw how much money there was, they demanded half of the money or they wouldn't sing papers to sell.
So lesson learned. I should have got it all in my name when I bought the place. In this example, a close member of my family saw dollar signs and chose that over our relationship.
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