Divorce and a quitclaim deed

[Timothy Colman]

Hello all,

I have a quick scenario that may be a bit confusing, but stay with me.

• I live in Arizona.
• Ex wife lives in Florida.
• My ex wife and I own a house in NC. I am the ONLY one on the mortgage. We are both on the deed.

I recently got divorced in December of 2018, and in the agreement it states:

"Within five (5) days of the execution of this Agreement, Wife shall execute and deliver to Husband a Quit Claim Deed conveying her interest in the North Carolina Property to Husband. In the event Wife fails to deliver the required deed, Wife agrees that the Final Judgment of Dissolution of Marriage in this dissolution shall serve as full conveyance of title of Wife's rights, title and interest in the North Carolina Property to Husband."

She has failed to deliver a quit claim deed. What is my next move?

[Randy E.]

Originally posted by @Timothy Colman:

She has failed to deliver a quit claim deed. What is my next move?

 I am not a lawyer and have nothing useful to say about the legal aspects of your situation.

From a personal standpoint, I would assume there may have been a financial and/or time reason for her failure to complete the quit claim deed.  Assuming she knows very little about RE, she will probably use a lawyer to handle the details of the quit claim deed.  That entails both money and time, and she may not have had the opportunity to expend either within 5 days of the divorce.

Were I in your shoes, I'd engage an attorney to draft the quit claim deed, inform the ex to contact the attorney's office and arrange a time for her to go sign, and that would be that.  Make it easy for her to help you by setting up and paying for the attorney yourself.

If, after you set things up, she refuses to sign, then I would take the step stipulated in your agreement.  But before going that route, I'd try for the peaceful solution.  If you do as teh agreement stipulates, you'll still end up paying a lawyer to try to remove her name from the deed.  Allowing her the opportunity to sign on her own with an attorney you paid for might help keep the peace.

Good luck!