Financial difficulties are pretty common in divorce cases, especially involving the marital home. With one party now absent, whoever ends up with the house might face daunting costs related to taxes, upkeep and utilities. Many divorcees will refinance their homes, but depending on their credit, interest rates might actually go up, making it even more difficult to keep the home.
What is a Quitclaim and How Can it Help?
This is one situation that could benefit from something called a quitclaim deed. What this does is shift the ownership of the home from one party to another. This has a few potential benefits.
In a situation where one spouse has much better credit than the other, a quitclaim deed can be essential in getting lower interest rates from home refinancing. You go through the process to transfer the house to the party with better credit, and that party can apply for refinancing and likely get a better interest rate. However, this is not a simple process due to the nature of mortgage companies.
Quitclaim deeds can also be used when one spouse wants to add the other to titles of separate property, when property needs to be transferred as a result of a divorce settlement or when one spouse wants to be removed from a title.
Quitclaim Requirements
Additionally, quitclaim deeds can be used to convert marital property into separate property, exempting it from the process of equitable division of assets. For a quitclaim deed to be valid, it must:
- Be in written form
- List the involved spouses
- Identify the property by address or by legal description
- Be signed in the presence of a notary public
- Be recorded in the county where the property is located
Contact a Colorado Family Law Attorney
If you have questions about property division during divorce or would like more details on quitclaim deeds, speak to a Colorado family law attorney. The team at Divorce Matters has the skills and experience to help you!
