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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Posts
    11

    Question Marital Home In Oregon

    After 16 years, my wife has decided she wants a divorce. There has been allot of credit card debt and student loan debt racked up by her over the years. She wants to take the credit card and student loan debt and allow me to keep the house (first and and second mortgage debt). I am not oppose to this, however, what do I need to do in order to have her name removed from the mortgage so that in the future I can sell the house without any complications?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jul 2006
    Posts
    2,652

    Default Re: Marital Home In Oregon

    Do you mean mortgage or the deed?

    If you did mean mortgage, you would need to refinance under your name only. If you can find a lender willing to do that.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Posts
    11

    Default Re: Marital Home In Oregon

    What is a quitclaim deed? My wife may be willing to sign this document. By her signing this document, would it allow me to sell the home at a later date without her coming back later for a cut of any profits?

  4. #4

    Default Re: Marital Home In Oregon

    OK.... short course of Property Law 101......

    A "quitclaim deed" as used in Oregon is a device by which a person who is believed to have an ownership interest in real property can legally "release, relinquish and renounce" whatever ownership interest that the person MAY have in that property, doing so without representing and declaring to actually have such ownership interest.

    Keep in mind that if a person signs a deed purporting to sell, transfer or convey ownership of property that the person does not actually own, it would constitute fraud and it would be an illegal act. Use of a "quitclaim deed" avoids the problem and allows for any "cloud on title" to be removed.

    A person who signs a quitclaim deed is not saying that "I own this property or have an ownership interest therein." Rather, the person signing a quitclaim deed is saying "I do not claim to have any ownership interest in this property. But just in case I really do have some ownership interest, I hereby release, relinquish and renounce it and hereby forever forego the right to assert such claim of ownership in the future."

    OK.... now, moving on. If you are getting a divorce and all of the parties' existing joint ownership in the property is to go to you, the Judgment of Dissolution of Marriage should so state and should include the proper legal description of the property (as taken from the deed by which the property was originally conveyed to the two of you). The Judgment of Dissolution of Marriage will then suffice as a "document of conveyance" that effectively transfers and vests all of your wife's right, title and interest in the property to you. You can then proceed to sell the property as when and if you decide to do so, without further need of your then-former wife's involvement.

    BUT ----> Transferring your wife's ownership interest in the property to you does NOT remove her from being obligated to the mortgage company (or bank) as a joint debtor on the mortgage obligation. Unless the mortgage company agrees to do it otherwise (which is a rare situation), the only way to get you ex-wife's name off of the mortgage debt obligation is to pay off the mortgage (as would occur upon sale of the property or a "re-fi" of the existing mortgage).

    PS: A divorce judgment that awards all of the parties' joint ownership interest in the property to one spouse will often include a "money award" in favor of the other spouse for what is determined to be half of the equity in the property existing as of the time of the divorce. The court will then usually specify that the money award becomes due and payable either when the house is sold or by a specified date (e.g., three years after the divorce), whichever event first occurs.

  5. #5

    Default Re: Marital Home In Oregon

    Although I live in Maryland, I signed a "quitclaim deed" as suggested above...technically, I was still legally and financially obligated to the house should he have done something stupid, but he was able to move and sell the house without my signature, and in the divorce, I gave up all my rights to the house. It worked out fine for us....good luck!

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