What happens with Foreclosures?

[ywillis]

When I was married, we purchased a piece of real estate which my ex-husband adored. Our divorce was uncontested and I allowed him to keep the house provided he refinance into his name within 12 months of the divorce. The reason I gave him that much time is because he wouldn't have qualified at the time of divorce. When the time was near to expire, I signed a quick-claim deed to allow him to finance. I later received a call from the company that holds the 1st mortgage (there is 2 mortgages) asking about payment. He just left the property and I don't know where he is today and it is now on my credit report listed in foreclosure.

What should I do to protect myself in this situation? Will I ever be able to purchase a home for myself and my family? If so, when?

 

[Michael Wechsler]

Who gave you the advice on the property? Unfortunately, if you were a co-signer on the mortgage or a guarantor, you would be responsible on it regardless of whether you quitclaim the property to your ex. The two are completely separate issues. What you should have done was removed yourself from the mortgage (if that would have been permitted and I doubt it) or made your husband primarily liable for the entire balance, as between the two of you.

This is a difficult situation and you had best call the bank to find out why you weren't notified about the default in the mortgage. If you were a debtor then I would think that you never would have waived notice and allowed the mortgage to go into default. You could have sold the house and used the proceeds to pay off the mortgage without having to deal with the bank doing it, getting less, and then charging you with exorbitant fees. You should call an attorney as soon as possible to determine whether there can be a stay on the foreclosure process due to failure to provide notice -- all of that assuming that there is a violation of notice/process, which there may very well NOT be. Good luck with this.