[martina]

I'm divorced, my ex kept the house, as on my divorce paper, he signed that he's responsible for the house. But now, the bank foreclosed on the house, are the gonna chase me for the money that he technically owed the bank. I understand that my name still being on the loan I am still held accountable for the unpaid portion of the mortgage.What are my options? Will the bank be able to chase after me for the money, seize any assets I have i.e. cars, bank accounts etc...I know I probably need to talk to an attorney but I really dont have the money to do so at the moment. Any recommendations on free legal advice would be appreciated as well.Thanks a lotMartina

[REIS Short Sales]

Hi Martina.

Most likely he signed a paper agreeing to take over the property and you signed a Quit Claim Deed to remove your name from the deed and thought that was the end of that. Unfortunately that only removes your name from the deed not from the mortgage. To do that, your ex-husband should have refinanced the house into his name only. Right now you have no ownership in the property but you are responsible for the debt. I'm actually working on a short sale just like this now and yes, the wife did Quit Claim the property but she is still legally obligated to the bank for the debt. I know this doesn't sound like it's fair but that is the way that it is. The bank cares about who signed on the dotted line.

Before entering the short sale business I was in banking/lending for many years and I always advised those going through a divorce to redo all the joint loans and have them show in the person's name who is taking over the obligation. With that said, I'm not an attorny so depending on what papers were signed and how far they go in the court system you may have other remedies available to you. You may want to take your divorce decree to your divorce attorney to find out how far reaching the signed document is.

I wish you the best.

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