Legal Question in Real Estate Law in New York

Re: Changing Deed from Joint to Sole ownership in Divorce

Since your property is a cooperative apartment, your ownership is not by way of a deed, but rather by shares of stock and a lease. You cannot therefore change the ownership by executing a new deed.

Your ex-spouse will have to sign documents transferring the stock and lease into your name as sole owner.

Since there is a mortgage loan on the property, the lender is most likely holding the shares of stock and has an assignment of the lease as security for repayment of the loan. You will not be able to transfer ownership without addressing the issue of the outstanding balance on the loan. The usual way that this is done is for you to apply to a lender to refinance the property in your own name, pay off the existing loan with the refinance proceeds, and have a 'closing' in which the ownership is passed to you. You will also have to advise the co-op board of this transaction. I advise you to have a skilled attorney handle this for you; co-op transactions are often more complicated than real property closings.