two deeds after divorce

[ewakrakow]

What is the name of your state? California

Hi, please help;
I posted it on Family Law branch, no respond so far, so I am hoping
maybe over here.

I was divorced in NM, in year 2000.
Beginning of 2006 my ex filed the motion of
modification.

He wants to force a sale of the condominium,
located in California, bought in 1996.
Divorce decree says, in case of sale, equity divided
equally between him and me.
I live in the condo, ex pays the mortgage ( divorce decree).
Equity grew 400% over 5+ years.
At the moment of divorce both our names were on the title.

In 2001 ex signed new quit claim deed to himself and me,
tenants in common.

In 2002 he signed another quit claim deed. This time to
my present husband, himself and me, tenants in common.

The real estate lawyer in California, basing on
the deeds, wrote a letter for use in NM.

The letter says; deed from 2001, did not change
the percentage of ownership, rather put "new vest"
on property, instead of being marital
property, became two separate properties
with 50/50 ownership.
By the deed in 2002, my ex split his interest
in three parts.
Now the ownership in percentage is:
my ex and my preset husband have 17% each, I have 68%.
My questions are ;

If the property is going to be ordered sold by
Family Court in Albuquerque, will the court
order overrule deeds and the present division
of property and I will have to give 50% to my ex, and
17% of my husband will be neglected , and my 68% instead of
50%?

If not, how and where I will be able to appeal
and execute the power of the deeds ?

Thank you very much
eva

yes, I do have a lawyer...
yes, I offered to my ex:
I take over the loan, and give up 401k
it sums to 17% of market value, but he wants to go for the trial....
Lawyer in California suggests starting quite title case now...
I do not now what else I can do, I had already four lawyers
involved,
big fortune spent, and no effect at all.
I am posting on forums all over the net, hopping someone had to do with similar situation, and maybe can share an experience.
Thanks a lot, and please help if you can.What is the name of your state?

 

[danno6925]

I'm not sure if this applies the same way in California as it does in Pennsylvania, but in PA, a quit claim deed does just that - it quits someone's claim to and relenquishes any and all interest they might have had in a property. Since a quit claim deed relenquishes any and all interest in a property, I can't imagine why you would give hime One Thin Dime for a property he no longer owns!!

He should have been paid for his interest in the property when he signed the deed the first time. In Pa, there is a clause on most Deeds that refer to the consideration as being "well and truly paid". Meaning, I have been paid $$ to grant/convey this property to the person buying it.

If the deed is on record at the local county records office, get yourself a certified copy (if you can't find the original) and show it to your lawyer(s). Find out why this isn't good enough evidence to tell your ex to go bite rocks! Also Ask your lawyer (or one of them anyway) - if the ex has really quit his claim to title, why do you give a flying flaming rat's derrier what he wants, if he doesn't own this property?!?

Sounds to me like he's trying to put the screws to you now that he knows what he could have been paid

I am not a lawyer. I have worked in PA title insurance since 2000.

 

[ewakrakow]

to danno6925

This post was intended to be private message to danno6925, but to my sorrow I can not send a message to danno6925.

Hello and thank you very much for your post, about deeds my ex
signed after divorce.

Unfortunately my ex owns stil 16.66.. % of the condo .
In addition during this dirty trial, which is lasting for 8 months already, he choosen the way off trying to convince the court, that the third deed he signed is not valid.
The deed was made by him to himself, me and my present husband, 3 our names as teenants in common.
Because my ex at the moment of the deed owned 50% ( myself another 50%), this
percentage was calculated ( by California real estate lawyer, dividing 50 by 3.
I do not have title report in my hand, I have all original deeds, but the most likely all three names are on the title, because deed was recorded with the county.

Ex line in questioning the vality of the deed goes like this:

"I never had intention to transfer any percentage of the ownership to Bastian ( my husband name), I put his name on property to help him with emigration papers.., and we agreed
he is going to remove his name after he gets green card.
Pure lie, we were married with my husband for over one year, I am American citizen for almost 30 years now, my husband was working for Disney company for almost a year, when deed was signed .
In spite of all these facts, unfortunately my lawyer is not convinced about my rights and still is spending his expensive for
me time, on discussions " what were circumstances after which the deed was signed" All this situation is ruining me financially and starting to effect my health as well.

Because you were so good and answered my question and also you have fantastic backround in titles area, I am taking my courrage to let myself to ask you some additional questions.
Please help me if you can.
Assuming the family court in New Mexico is going to order condominium to be sold and division 50%/50% ( this is what divorce decree says)
What is the next step from the legal point of view if my ex wants to execute this order?
Does he have to tranfer the judgement to California were
condominium is located ?
And what if I and my husband ( which can not be ruled by court in New Mexico) do not agree to the sale ?
What means my ex is going to have and how can I defend myself ?

Many, many thanks in advance and the best regards
eva fox

 

[danno6925]

You are involved in a most complicated scenario. I did not realize there would be courts from more than one state involved in this litigation. Although lawyers are expensive, they can often untangle even situations like yours.


Since we're on the same page about my not being a lawyer, here is my opinion of your last post:

First of all, I do not understand his use of the quitclaim deed, which has special language stating he no longer holds any rights in the property, and that he QUITS CLAIM to those lands or property. Since you mention that he was one of the people the property was transferred from and then to, this document really wouldn't apply here. Since he has recorded it already, it is not really a 'big deal' overall.

Who is in posession of the condo at this time? They should immediately attempt to find a buyer (and soon - the market is rapidly cooling here on the East Coast, and I suspect this will soon become a national trend). Be sure to let the real estate agent know about the issues you are having, so there will be no suprises later in t he deal.

Have the ex sign a deed from all three of you to the new buyer, and make certain he gets the 16.667% of the proceeds of the sale he is owed and then rid yourself of this jerk and never look back.

I thought it might make you smile to know that the name, Bastion, means "One that is considered similar to a defensive stronghold, as in to say 'You are a bastion of strength'"

As for your other questions, those should be presented to your lawyer. I cannot answer state-specific questions, or those that fall outside the parameters of real estate.

I wish you the very best of luck - Hang in there!!

I am NOT an attorney. I have worked in PA title insurance since 2000

 

[Ohiogal]

You are involved in a most complicated scenario. I did not realize there would be courts from more than one state involved in this litigation. Although lawyers are expensive, they can often untangle even situations like yours.


Since we're on the same page about my not being a lawyer, here is my opinion of your last post:

First of all, I do not understand his use of the quitclaim deed, which has special language stating he no longer holds any rights in the property, and that he QUITS CLAIM to those lands or property. Since you mention that he was one of the people the property was transferred from and then to, this document really wouldn't apply here. Since he has recorded it already, it is not really a 'big deal' overall.


WRONG! WRONG! WRONG! What a quit claim does is give his interest in the property to whoever he quit claims it to -- in this case he quit claimed it to himself, her and her husband. It was a transfer of property without being a warranty deed and warranting it against any liens or that it had marketable title.

Who is in posession of the condo at this time? They should immediately attempt to find a buyer (and soon - the market is rapidly cooling here on the East Coast, and I suspect this will soon become a national trend). Be sure to let the real estate agent know about the issues you are having, so there will be no suprises later in t he deal.


The possessor of the condo cannot put the condo up for sale without the permission of ALL the owners. Since they are tenants in common we would have to see exactly how the quit claim deed is worded.

Have the ex sign a deed from all three of you to the new buyer, and make certain he gets the 16.667% of the proceeds of the sale he is owed and then rid yourself of this jerk and never look back.

You don't know that he is only entitled to 16.667%. OP was given answers on the other thread and apparently decided she did not like them but likes your answer much better because it was what she wanted to hear.
I thought it might make you smile to know that the name, Bastion, means "One that is considered similar to a defensive stronghold, as in to say 'You are a bastion of strength'"

As for your other questions, those should be presented to your lawyer. I cannot answer state-specific questions, or those that fall outside the parameters of real estate.

I wish you the very best of luck - Hang in there!!

I am NOT an attorney. I have worked in PA title insurance since 2000

And you not being an attorney hurts in this case because there are many uses for a quit claim deed. You can quit claim property to yourself and that doesn't mean you don't have any interest in the property. The reasons for quit claims are numerous.

 

[Ohiogal]

This post was intended to be private message to danno6925, but to my sorrow I can not send a message to danno6925.

Hello and thank you very much for your post, about deeds my ex
signed after divorce.

Unfortunately my ex owns stil 16.66.. % of the condo .
In addition during this dirty trial, which is lasting for 8 months already, he choosen the way off trying to convince the court, that the third deed he signed is not valid.
The deed was made by him to himself, me and my present husband, 3 our names as teenants in common.
Because my ex at the moment of the deed owned 50% ( myself another 50%), this
percentage was calculated ( by California real estate lawyer, dividing 50 by 3.
I do not have title report in my hand, I have all original deeds, but the most likely all three names are on the title, because deed was recorded with the county.

Ex line in questioning the vality of the deed goes like this:

"I never had intention to transfer any percentage of the ownership to Bastian ( my husband name), I put his name on property to help him with emigration papers.., and we agreed
he is going to remove his name after he gets green card.
Pure lie, we were married with my husband for over one year, I am American citizen for almost 30 years now, my husband was working for Disney company for almost a year, when deed was signed .
In spite of all these facts, unfortunately my lawyer is not convinced about my rights and still is spending his expensive for
me time, on discussions " what were circumstances after which the deed was signed" All this situation is ruining me financially and starting to effect my health as well.

Because you were so good and answered my question and also you have fantastic backround in titles area, I am taking my courrage to let myself to ask you some additional questions.
Please help me if you can.
Assuming the family court in New Mexico is going to order condominium to be sold and division 50%/50% ( this is what divorce decree says)
What is the next step from the legal point of view if my ex wants to execute this order?
Does he have to tranfer the judgement to California were
condominium is located ?
And what if I and my husband ( which can not be ruled by court in New Mexico) do not agree to the sale ?
What means my ex is going to have and how can I defend myself ?

Many, many thanks in advance and the best regards
eva fox

You OP can be ruled by a court in New Mexico. The sale of the condominimum requires a division of 50%/50%. That is in your divorce and that is what ex gets. Knowing title insurance says NOTHING aobut knowing family law. Your hubby cannot be ruled by court in New Mexico but you can. And you will. If your hubby does not agree to the sale then you can refinance and pay ex 50% of the equity in the home. You have been answered on the other thread. The fact that you didn't like those answers doesn't change the law.

 

[mpecherer]

Classic Partition Law Question

You have a divorce proceeding in New Mexico. As a general rule, the New Mexico court cannot affect land titles in other states although it sometimes happens indirectly in a divorce context where courts have great leeway. I don't believe that the New Mexico court has appropriate jurisdiction to straighten out your land title in California and if it attempted to do so and made an error under California law, a California court might not agree. Further, now that your second husband appears to have an interest, he would have to be joined as a party to the action. Finally, because transfers appear to have occurred after the divorce and not a part of it, the divorce court in New Mexico probably cannot exercise family law jurisdiction over the consequences. It is not clear, but that would be my bet.

The correct proceeding would be to commence a partition action in California. That is my area of expertise. The first order of business in a partition action is to determine who has ownership rights and that would include determinations of the effect, if any, of the various quitclaim deeds. I don't necessarily agree with the analysis that you recite, for the divorce decree probably converted the joint tenancy or community property title to a tenancy in common by operation of law. At that point, it may be that your first husband had only a 50% interest to quitclaim which if he quitclaimed to the two of you would mean that you arguably had 75% at that point. The second quitclaim deed, if valid, split his remaining 25% in three parts.

However, there are not enough facts here. Merely recording the deed gives notice to third parties, but does not give the deed any more or less effect and his intentions with respect to both deeds would have to be ascertained.

In a partition suite, however, the end result is that the property is sold. Remember and remember this well, any co-owner has an absolute right to force a sale of the property and that means that so long as your first husband has any interest in the property he can force a sale to a third party and you have no defense.

If you want to remain in the condo, you had better come to peace with him. If you sue him in California on some other grounds he could and if well advised, would countersue for partition and the condo would be sold.

This is a classic case where continuation of the acrimony of the divorce will cost the parties big time. You need to find the point of compromise and do it or you could well find yourself living elsewhere.

mpecherer