Sherry’s Question: My husband and I divorced a year ago by filing our own uncontested divorce. We agreed that he would keep the house and give me half of the equity, which he was able to pay by taking out a home equity loan. I signed a quit claim deed, and both of us assumed that my name would automatically be removed from the mortgage. Since our divorce, I found out that my name is still on the mortgage. Even though my ex has been making the payments, I’m worried. Shouldn’t the bank have told me that my name was still on the mortgage, and what can I do to protect myself?
Scott’s Answer: This is a common problem many people face in a divorce. A court order directing division of the equity of the home in no way affects an outstanding mortgage. To change the mortgage, there needs to be a re-finance or a sale. There is no other solution. If your husband was ordered to assume the mortgage, it was his responsibility to refinance. Should he fail to make mortgage payments and if the bank should come after you, your recourse would be to take him back to court to compensate you for what you were forced to pay the mortgage company. The bank had no responsibility to explain the situation to you - this is why you need a lawyer in a divorce.
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Hello Sherry, you are off the title but still on the Mortgage Loan which is the most dangerous. It will still report on your credit report for as long as he keeps the loan in place. Yes they should of told you at the bank but I am guessing that the person that removed you from the title didn’t know what she was doing or had someone else do what was asked of them which is really sad. You will stay on the loan until he refinances his current loan or sells his home at which time you would be taken off the loan. You might have to sign when he does refinance or sell depending on the state you live in. I have seen in a lot of divorce papers where the one keeping the home is required to refinance the home or sell in a certain amount of time after the divorce is final, you might want to check your paper work or phone your lawyer to see if that was a requirement of the divorce. Let me know if you have any more questions.
My husband left our home in April and moved to another state. He also stopped contibuting to our joint debt. I had no choice but to put our home up for sale. I signed a Quit Claim Deed so I could sign all the sale documents (per my realtor). Citimortgage just recently removed my husband from our loan after he sent them the recorded document.
PLEASE WARN YOUR READERS !
Below is text from the confirmation letter I received:
Thank you for selecting the Internet as your means of
communicating with CitiMortgage, Inc. Our response to your
Account inquiry is below.
In regards to your inquiry on the account due to name
change, we have received a Quit Claim Deed indicating that
XXXX M.XXXXXX (Xs added by me for privacy) name was removed from this account. As a result we have also indicated that XXXX M.XXXXXX would no longer hold liability for the mortgage. If you have any
questions or concerns regarding your liability on the
mortgage account we strongly suggest you contact your
attorney. Feel free to also contact CitiMortgage Customer
Service at (800)283-7918 we are available Mon.-Fri. from
7:00am-11:00pm CT and Sat. from 8:00am-5:00pm CT.
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