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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
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    10

    Default Mortgage Refinancing, Breach of Settlement Agreement, and Quitclaim Deed

    I live in Pennsylvania and have a question about what the ramifications are since my ex-husband failed to refinance the mortgage in time according to our Divorce Settlement Agreement.

    We signed our Divorce Property Settlement Agreement in November 2006. We agreed that my ex-husband would get the family home, that I would sign the deed out of my name, and he had 90 days to refinance the mortgage out of my name or the penalty was that he would have to sell the house and give me half.

    Long story short, I recently discovered through a credit report and calling the mortgage lender that I am still on the mortgage and my ex-husband has no financial means to refinance. I signed the quitclaim deed back in August 2007.

    Also, it may be of note that the divorce decree was never filed - the judgment was entered but the affidavits of consent were never sent out for us to sign and the official divorce decree was never filed. I discovered THAT back in March 2009 and the attorneys have been working to remedy that and the final Divorce Decree should be on file any day now.

    So my question is, can I enforce the terms of the Property Settlement Agreement and take my ex-husband to court and have a judge force him to sell the house per our agreement? Does it matter that I already signed the quitclaim deed and would that affect my ability to get money from the sale of the house? Also, does the error in the divorce decree filing not being followed up on make a difference? It was my ex-husband's attorney who was supposed to file for the divorce decree and "forgot".

    I do have an attorney who has not been aggressively pursuing this case for me. I am looking to switch to a more supportive attorney but in the interim, I have been gathering all my paperwork, documentation, and questions in order to figure out what my options are - and posting here is part of this process.

    Thanks!

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
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    Default Re: Mortgage Refinancing, Breach of Settlement Agreement, and Quitclaim Deed

    If the final divorce decree allows for that remedy, then you can pursue that remedy. You can discuss with your lawyer whether it's likely to be included in the final divorce decree. I imagine that your ex's lawyer is trying to at a minimum have the 90 day window start with the entry of the decree.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jul 2009
    Posts
    10

    Default Re: Mortgage Refinancing, Breach of Settlement Agreement, and Quitclaim Deed

    My Settlement Agreement was incorporated into my Divorce Decree, not merged, so it has been a stand-alone valid contract since its signing in 2006.

    By not refinancing the mortgage out of my name according to the terms in that Agreement, he broke our contract, pure and simple so I can indeed go after him - regardless of the fact that the Divorce has not been finalized, or that I signed the Quitclaim Deed -- none of that has any bearing on the fact that he broke a legally binding contract.

    My Divorce is STILL not finalized - over 2-1/2 years after the signing of the Settlement Agreement... and just about 3 years since the original filing of the Complaint in Divorce .... and we had no outstanding unresolved issues to hold it up. I have researched over 45 divorce cases that have been filed with my local courthouse and in uncontested cases (like mine) it should have taken 4-6 months on average from the date of filing the Divorce Complaint and having the Decree finalized.... thank God for County Public Access Systems.

    I have since spoken with my attorney (finally) about this issue since posting this question, and I am still able to move forward with filing a complaint against my ex-husband (well, we are technically legally separated) regardless if the Divorce Decree has been finalized and signed by a judge.

    So the point of me rambling on and on over this resolved issue - if anyone else every comes across this post with a similar situation - make sure to check any paperwork you have to see whether your Settlement Agreement is 'incorporated' or 'merged' into the Divorce Decree - that really makes a difference. If it had been merged, I would have to wait until the Divorce Decree was signed by a judge before I could file a complaint of Violation of Order against my ex.

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