Determining Ownership Of A Home And Mortgage
REM # F632
By Ilyce R. Glink
Summary: A reader has a question about home ownership, mortgages and quit claim deeds. Ilyce explains that a quit claim deed only removes you as owner of the property and does not release you from the mortgage.
Q: I have a few questions regarding ownership of a home and the mortgage that
was taken out to buy the home.
(article continues below useful links)
If someone signs a quit claim deed, does that also mean that person is no longer responsible for any loans against that property? If the person who retained ownership of the property then defaults on the mortgage, who is responsible for the loan payments?
How do you go about filing a quit claim that removes you from the responsibility to repay the mortgage?
A: A quit claim deed only removes you as owner of the property. It does not
release you from the mortgage. It actually puts you in the worst of all worlds
because you are still liable for the mortgage and yet you do not own the property.
The only way to get your name off the mortgage (and I'm assuming we're talking
about you) is to have your former co-owner refinance the property. But since
your former co-owner has now defaulted on the mortgage, he or she won't be able
to do that.
And you can't either because your credit is still tied to this mortgage. You
need to get involved now to see if you can salvage this situation. I suggest
you speak to the mortgage lender and a real estate attorney. If you can't figure
out how you're going to make these mortgage payments, you'll probably have to
file for bankruptcy to wipe off the debt.
NOTE: This column is distributed by Real Estate Matters Syndicate, PO Box 366, Glencoe, Illinois, 60022. This column may not be resold, reprinted, resyndicated or redistributed without written permission from the publisher.
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