Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Texas

real estate and divorce

My husband and I were divorced in august 07. I am unsure how to finalize the property we owned together. we own 2 homes together and agreed to each keep a house, he wants the house in CA, and I, the house in TX. During my divorce I was advised by my attorney NOT to do an Inter-spousal transfer deed until I received a judgement. Now that we are divorced, what is required next? Can (should)we quitclaim the properties to each other? Do we each need to obtain new loans? I am in the dark. There is another complication, my ex-spouse took out a second mortgage on our CA home AFTER our divorce without my knowledge. When we refinanced our home out there years back we were offered a line of credit, (which i did NOT want but they shoved down our throats) I never intended to use it, and even called the mortgage company and told them to cancel it. I did not want the temptation. I do not know how he was able to do this unless they really did not cancel it. I am furious about it. I do NOT want to be held accountable for his loan. Can I be? I would have to assume what he did was illegal, but don't know fur sure.

Can you help?

--name removed---name removed--


Asked on 1/13/08, 12:27 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

Re: real estate and divorce

To answer your questions:

1. You should refinance the properties, if possible. Have your husband refinance the CA property first, that should wipe out any debts in your name for that property.

2. After that, you can refinance your TX property in your name only, wiping him out.

During the refinancing, you will each execute warranty deeds (not quitclaims) to each other.

You'll need to ask a CA lawyer about the HELOC he obtained on the CA property without your consent. There may be an issue there.

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Answered on 1/13/08, 9:42 am


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