How to Get a Quitclaim Deed Back After a Divorce
- 1). Contact your ex-spouse regarding the status of the quitclaim deed. The only way to get it back is if the spouse agrees to sign the property over to you. If your spouse wants to sell the home to you, during the closing, another deed will be filed, which nullifies the quitclaim deed.
- 2). File the deed. Whether you received a deed because you purchased the property back from your spouse or your spouse agreed to give you sole and exclusive use of the home in exchange for something else, a deed will need to be created. If this is a private transaction between you and your spouse, fill out the proper quitclaim deed form for your state (available at the clerk of court) and file it with public records. You will have to pay any filing fees incurred with the filing of a new deed.
- 3). Foreclose on the property. If you are holding a mortgage for your spouse and the spouse has not paid the mortgage, you can foreclose on the property, just as a bank-mortgage holder can. You must go through your state's foreclosure process and you must be the person holding the mortgage. If your divorce was performed properly, the final judgment should have required the spouse to refinance the marital home in her own name.
- 4). Follow through on all related transactions. If there is a mortgage involved and you do not hold it, refinance the property in your own name. This removes your spouse's name from the mortgage. This process also recreates a note, and in the process, your spouse's name will be removed from the note, since this new transaction is only between you and the mortgage holder.