Divorce - Forclosure help

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agusta109

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My wife (since 2008) and her ex-husband bought a house together in 2002 (when they were still married). Both of their names are on the mortgage and title. They divorced in 2007 and she signed a Quit Claim deed for the house with the understanding that he would refinance the mortgage in his name only. This was spelled out in the divorce decree and she was supposed to be held harmless in the event that he failed to make payments on the house. He tells my wife that he was unable to refinance because of his credit and that she is still on the mortgage. In October of 2009 her ex stopped making payments on the house and we have been summoned that the house is to be foreclosed. In the summons it states "Plaintiff says that the defendant, Joe Doe, name unknown, spouse of (name), may claim an interest in the subject property as the current spouse of the defendant-titleholder, (name). Plaintiff says that it cannot currently discover the real name of said defendant. (Said defendant is ME).

Can someone explain what this legal wording means and what if any recourse we may have. We don't live in the house. We have our own house that was purchased by me before we were married. He name is not on the title or mortgage. Are my assets and credit safe from this suit? Her name is not on any of my bank accounts.

If she files contempt of court against her ex for failing to refinance the mortgage to get her name off of it, then what good will that do us, if any? It sounds like he is possibly broke and out of work. He has also been making only a small percentage of his required child support payments.

Is my wife's credit going to be ruined? We have an appointment with an attorney next Monday but would appreciate any info we can get now. Thanks!
 
You really don't need to spend money on an attorney. Go to a free consultation and he/she will explain. You may be in a community property state where you, by virtue of your marriage, could have some interest in the property being foreclosed upon.

If your wife deeded the property away in a divorce then the lender will not be able to pursue her for a deficiency. You have no financial responsibility to the house at all so your assets and credit are safe. Your wife will have a foreclosure on her record and her credit is shot for 3-5 years.

I would contact the foreclosure attorney and offer a deed in lieu of the foreclosure to quit claim any interest you might have to the property. She too could offer that deed in lieu in exchange for a promise by the lender to not pursue and deficiency against her. The credit mark is going to stay. You could conceivably sue him for damages to her credit or even complain for contempt but what is that going to do?

The good news is that you aren't going to lose anything from this but a connection to the ex-spouse you didn't want anyway. If the lawyer says much different you are likely spending money you don't need to spend.
 
Thanks for the quick reply and the relatively good news. She may opt to file contempt on her ex because he really hasn't complied with much of anything in the original decree. The one thing we may gain from doing that is the ability to claim her two children as dependents. The original decree called for joint custody and allowed him to claim both kids for tax purposes. The children live with us 99.9% of the time and rarely even visit their dad - much less stay overnight with him. He can't even afford to pay for their routine medical bills. I'm sure this topic should be in a different forum, but you get the idea what we're dealing with.
Thanks again!
 
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