Quit Claim deed with grantee as the spouse

Hi John,

Welcome to Mortgagefit discussion board.

Since there is a mortgage if you quit claim the house to your spouse, lender might require her to refinance it in her name. So you will have to first check whether she would be able to qualify for the refinance or not.

Regarding protection against lien being placed on the house for recovery of the debts, that will be avoided as the title will be in name of your spouse. Creditors will not be able to put any lien over it.

"Does it matter that the mortgage / insurance/taxes are paid from out join bank account and that all the deposits to that account is from me."

As I mentioned earlier, if you transfer title to your spouse then refinance will be asked by the lender and spouse will have to qualify on the basis of her income, credit profile and other specifics. So she might face problems in getting the mortgage in her name if you are the only person working in the family.

In my opinion you should contact your lender first and discuss this matter. Inquire whether mortgage payments can be continued under the present terms or will a refinance necessary after title is transferred in spouse's name. I assume lender would ask for the mortgage to be refinanced but you should confirm it with your lender.

If you do go ahead with the plans of transferring house ownership then taking help of a lawyer will be more appropriate than doing it yourself. You will then be sure that no errors occur in the transfer process.

Do let me know if you have any other question.

Thanks
Blue

After title is in spouse's name even if you get sued creditors will not have any claim on the house as it will not be in your name.

But they can get a judgment to place lien on your other personal properties.

Also, before title transfer you need to consider what lender will require because of the change in title. If refinance will be required, will spouse be able to qualify for the same.

Miller

Hi Desikid,

If you do the quitclaim deed and place your spouse on the title to the property, the lender will ask to refinance the mortgage in her name because of the change in title transfer. As she is not working, it will be difficult for her to bear the loan expenses.

Thanks Blue, Miller and Larry. Lender is a huge bank and very inflexible. So my gut feeling they will require a new mortgage for my wife - which I don't think she will quality for. If I go ahead and do the quit claim taking a chance on whether the lender will notice/require mortgage change, how easy/hard it is to undo the quit claim ? Or are there other instruments that I can use with the help of a lawyer that will achieve the same objective - one that won't cost too much to setup?

-John

"how easy/hard it is to undo the quit claim ?"

To undo the quit claim deed your spouse will have to make a new quit claim deed to include you back on to the title.

On the new deed spouse will be grantor and you will be named as the grantee.

Miller

Thanks Miller. I called the Bank, they are going to send me a form to change everything into my wife's name - and the agent I spoke to said there will not be another credit or means test. I will keep you posted on the process

John

my name is on a quit claim deed with my brothers. I have found out that a lawyer has filed a lien against me. can I make out another quit claim deed relinquishing myself to any profit on the house.

Hi Bonnie J Jensen!

Lien cannot be filed against you, it has to be filed against a property. You may file a quitclaim in the favor of your brothers but I think it will be taken as a fraudulent transfer.

Thanks.