Even though a divorce decree may state that one spouse is required to relinquish their interest in favor of the other, a former spouse may still be required to sign when the property is resold.
In order to convey the property to a new owner, the title insurance underwriters will require more than just a copy of a divorce decree. The underwriters will require that the relinquishing spouse sign a quit-claim deed at closing, if they had not already done so. This is often overlooked in divorce situations and has been known to cause unnecessary delays when it comes time to resell.
We recently experienced a closing delay of more than one month because a former spouse claimed to be in China and could not get to the Embassy to have the deed witnessed and notarized. So far as we know, this person may have actually been in Omaha. The emails could have been coming from anywhere. Excuse after excuse and the clock kept ticking. We eventually got it closed judicially, but having to deal with a bitter former spouse on the day of closing is not an enviable position.
The moral to the story? Get the quit-claim deed signed simultaneously with all other divorce related documents!
For information on Destin Florida area short sales, bank foreclosures and general real estate topics, please visit www.FloridaBrokers.com or email us at smith@realtor.com