Video Summary

Does a final judgment of divorce convey real property?  It can convey real property; however you have to have express language that the judgment serves as a conveyance.  In particular when we have these final judgments that are done by the parties rarely do they provide for the judgment to serve as a conveyance of the property to the one particular spouse who’s supposed to receive it.

Some of the final judgments I see prepared by divorce counsel they say that the other party is to execute a deed conveying the real property.  So the proper language that needs to be incorporated in a final judgment of a divorce is that the judgment serves as a conveyance to real property from one spouse to the other. So if you want the final judgment to convey real property to one spouse, to the other you need to pay particular attention to the wording in the final judgment.

There is language that can be used in deeds whereby a spouse conveys their interest to the other spouse. If there’s a mortgage on the property ordinarily they would require documentary stamps.  However, if it is their homestead property and it is being conveyed pursuant to a marital settlement agreement and divorce proceeding then the Department of Revenue does not require the documentary stamp be placed on the conveyance.

If, however, we have more property than just the home then other property that is conveyed from one spouse to the other, pursuant to a marital settlement agreement, would require documentary stamps on the transfer based upon one-half of the unpaid balance of the mortgage that encumbers it.  If there’s no mortgage on the property then there would not be any documentary stamps.

So if you are getting divorced and you want the final judgment of divorce to convey the real property from one spouse to the other you need to pay particular attention to the judgment that is entered.  And it is a great idea to provide for that so that there is not a problem with judgments attaching to the spouse who is supposed to convey the property, their interest after their divorced or preexisting judgments.

So if you need some help with that well give me a call at 727-847-2288.

Video Summary

What happens to past due property tax when I short sell the home? Well that’s a fairly easy one. It’s when you short sell your home the property taxes are paid out of closing money and it reduces the amount that your lender receives or agrees to take in satisfaction of their lien and hopefully releases you from any liability on the loan. So those taxes are paid just like any other closing, when you close on your property and sell it to someone else. The back due taxes are paid, since they’re a lien against the real property rather than your personal obligation. So they are all taken care of and it is only up to you to negotiate with your lender that they’ll take the net proceeds less the payment of the real property taxes in satisfaction of the mortgage.

So if you have any questions, well give me a call at 727-847-2288.

Video Summary

Does transferring your property relieve you of the financial obligations of a promissory note and mortgage? The answer is no. When you sign a note and mortgage, you sign the note that says, “I promise to pay you, the bank, or a lender, the money, plus interest,” and it outlines the payments. Then you also sign another document, a mortgage, which is a lien against the property so that if the payments are not made on the promissory note, then the lender is in a position to foreclose and take the property away from the owner.  So by transferring the property to a third party or to an entity, the bank still has a lien against the property since the lien was recorded before the conveyance and you still have the responsibility under the promissory note. 

This is particularly frustrating when you have what they call a “white knight” who says, “Oh, I’ll help you with your foreclosure action.  Just deed me the property and I’ll see about trying to make the payments or get the payments paid.”  Well, what that does is you lose control of the property but you still have the liability under the promissory note and it still affects your credit.

So transferring property or some people would say deeding your property to a third party, does not relieve you of any debt on the property and you can still be sued and be held responsible for the promissory note if the lender so elects. 

So if you have any more questions about transferring the property, trying to avoid liability under your note and mortgage, give me a call at (727) 847-2288. Thank you.

Video Summary

What is the significance of recording a satisfaction of mortgage? Well, the significance is it means you paid the thing off and so that’s just terrific! And so by recording a satisfaction, the lender signs it and you put it in the public record that shows that the mortgage is no longer a lien against your property. Many people talk about taking a name off of a deed or satisfying a mortgage, the way the official record books operate is you put documents in the official record books and you never take them out, and so then you simply file another document to show a change in the chain of title for whenever does a title search. 

So by recording a satisfaction of mortgage, it shows in the public records there’s no longer a lien, and they usually state that the debt has been paid in full. Certainly if you do pay your mortgage off, you’ll want to obtain the promissory note and ask that it be paid because it is considered sometimes a negotiable instrument so that’s important to have. But the satisfaction of mortgage indicates that there’s no lien on the property and does indicate that the lender has probably been paid in full. Hopefully you have a satisfaction of mortgage that you need to record, but if you have any questions about it, give me a call at 727-847-2288. 

Thank you.  

Video Summary

What is a suit to quiet title?  That’s a strange word, “quiet title.”  But what it means is if you have a title to property and there is any question about someone else having an interest in it, you can file an action, and that’s called a suit to quiet title, to clear up any issues.  The primary basis for that is under adverse possession.  There are two ways to be able to obtain title to property through adverse possession.  One is through returning it for taxes, and that’s a special form you file with the tax collector or property appraiser’s office, and then you pay the taxes for seven years, and then you must occupy the enclosure or cultivate the property during those seven years.

At the end of seven years, if you’ve paid the taxes, you can then file what they call a suit to quiet title to eliminate the record title owner’s interest.  Another basis for adverse possession is if you have a deed to the property and you have paid the taxes for seven years.  However, someone else also has the deed to the property.  Well, if you’ve had the property for seven years, paid the taxes and had possession, well, then you file a suit to quiet title to eliminate any of their interest in the property.

Another example of when you file a suit to quiet title is if you buy a property at a tax sale.  There’s a special statute which allows you to file a suit to quiet title by giving notice to the former owner or lenders or anyone else who had an interest in the property prior to the tax sale, and that you need to prove in the suit to quiet title they received notice of the tax sale so they had due process.  If they didn’t have notice and did not pay the back taxes, well, then the court will enter a judgment saying that you have clear title, and then you’re in a position to convey marketable title to the property with a tax deed, and you don’t have to wait the seven years.

So if you have a title problem and you need to get it cleared up and you – or you need to file a suit to quiet title, give me a call at 727-847-2288.  Thank you.