Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Virginia

Re: possible cloud on title

No, I see no basis in law for the former husband of the deed gifter to challenge her gift of her property to her daughter.

Re: possible cloud on title

I really don't understand everything that is going on in your question, and I think it might be a question for a domestic relations (divorce) lawyer.

If I understand it, you (apparently) want to file some kind of action to recover the $55,000 that was overpaid. I have no idea why it was overpaid. In particular, did the wife know it, was there any fault of the wife involved, etc.

Did the wife know in 2003 that alimony was being overpaid when the husband did not know until 2008. (How is that possible?)

The question would be did the mother transfer the deed in 2003 as a means of avoiding repaying the over-paid alimony. We have no way of knowing that now.

Also, suppose you file an action and get a court order to recover the $55,000. Assuming you win that, and the court orders it repaid, we cannot anticipate (legally at least) that the $55,000 won't be paid somehow.

To show that the house was transferred to avoid paying the $55k, the court would first have to see that the mother can't pay the $55K some other way. So I think you would have to show that you have in fact gotten a court order to repay the $55K, and THEN she has refused to pay it. That would then show that the transfer of the deed and the other assets were done fraudulently to avoid paying the court ordered amount.

I think you might have a stronger case for recovery of the PAY OFF of the mortgage, which is much more recent, than rescinding the deed.

It would be hard to believe that the deed in 2003 was done in anticipation of a claim for repayment of the alimony that the husband did not discover until 2008.

HOWEVER... the mysterious pay off of the mortgage -- if it came from the mother -- could very well have been done with awareness that the husband might be filing a claim for repayment of the overpaid alimony. If that was done with fraudulent intent, you might be able to unwind that.

Doing so would be complicated (because the mortgage company got the money and ain't gonna give it back), but the end result would be to get a court judgment upon the property payable to the husband.