[WSBARP] Post-Divorce Property Transfer Debacle Question

[Josh Grant]

Did the buyer get title insurance?

From: Ross Gardner 
Sent: Thursday, January 07, 2016 4:06 PM
To: WSBA Real Property Listserv 
Subject: [WSBARP] Post-Divorce Property Transfer Debacle Question

Good Afternoon Everyone, 

I have a bit of a unique situation.  I have a Client who divorced a couple of years ago.  As part of the property settlement agreement, C agreed to give the house to the Ex by quitclaim in exchange for being removed from the mortgage.  Ex also stated that there were no outstanding encumbrances or liabilities other than the mortgage and credit card debt.  

Ex asked C for the quitclaim deed in early 2014, but apparently refused to remove C's name from the mortgage, so C did not produce the quitclaim deed.  Somehow, the Ex was able to sell the home a few months later without C's consent.  The chain of title magically goes from Husband and Wife as owners of the property, to a single person transferring the property to a buyer.  Ex supposedly had to pay money into the deal to make it happen, so there were no proceeds.

It also turns out that Ex mortgaged a portion of their backyard prior to the divorce to Ex's parents in exchange for $100k, which violated the property settlement agreement and also was probably not disclosed to the buyer.  That backyard portion was recently reconveyed to Ex.

Although there were clearly shady dealings going on, I don't know if any of this is actionable since my client did not have any monetary damages.  Obviously, we can probably try to undo the whole deal and/or report the real estate and title agents to their professional boards, but my client does not seem to want to go that route (thankfully).

Does anyone have any other suggestions?  Is there anything I am missing?  I would really appreciate any and all input on this.

Thanks so much!


Best Regards,

Ross Gardner, J.D
Attorney 
.
425-870-4430
Ross at tglawgrp.com
www.tglawgrp.com



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