these types of deals end up with broken hearts and hurt feelings @J Scott  has very valid points.If I was putting the cash into the deal I would want to be on title so I have the right to sell and pay off the lien holders.. of course this can go fine and cumbya and all but it can also lead to a disaster and broken friend ships.the seasoning and flipping rules that J Scott mentions are one of your major stumbles to whoever advised you on at the double close scenario  un less the property is sold for cash.

But, I want to expand on one additional merit of financing:If you have 80K cash, you don't have 80K to spend.Buy-and-holders MUST keep a cash reserve.

That said...I would imagine the holder isn't going to come off without damaging the surrounding tiles.  

The mortgage will be recorded as the private lender as the 1st lien holder. 

., holder of the other end of your land contract. 

According to the seller's agent, those mortgage liens were satisfied more than 15 years ago and one of the lien holder might already be diseased.

Or just an escrow holder to put the funds through?

The divorce decree IS NOT the final say in the eyes of the lender.Your note agreement if both of you are on it precedes the divorce.Yes the judge can say the wife is responsible for it but the note holder can also start dinging your credit because the ex-wife isn't paying as agreed and they look to you the ex-husband for payment.I have seen this happen many times where the person who isn't supposed to pay per the court orders credit gets trashed because they feel they shouldn't pay because of the agreement.

@Julia Deck-Russell In addition to the good advice given by @Tan Mehedi, be prepared for a very long, drawn out process and for subordinate lien holders to pop their heads up at the last minute looking for more cash.The last one I did for a client was within 5 weeks of closing. 

Always know what lien you’re bidding on.A property lien is “a legal claim on a tract of real estate granting the holder a specified amount of money upon the sale of the property.