Refinance on home during separation to my name only

North Carolina Divorce Law Divorce and Separation Answers
1

First off, thank you for the great site and for the ability to post on here.

My wife and I are about 2 months away from 1y1d on our year apart. Everything is civil between us and is weird as it is, we have actually remained friends. We are both just looking forward to having the divorce finalized. There is one issue that we have questions about that two lawyers haven’t been very helpful with as each lawyer just wants us to hire them to screw the other person when we have no interest in doing that.

Currently our house is her residence but she has already obtained an apartment for after the divorce because I am keeping the home. This was easily decided by us as she doesn’t want the house and doesn’t like the neighborhood and has been more than happy to give it to me. If it makes any difference, our house was purchased prior to being married (several years prior) but both the loan and the title are in both of our names.

So my questions are this:

  1. As long as we have agreed that I’m getting the house and she’s not, there is no judge or anyone that will say no, correct? In terms of division of property we have already decided who is getting what and we aren’t fighting over anything. I just don’t want to misunderstand that that won’t be a problem.

  2. I just started the process 2 days ago of refinancing the house (off topic: going from 6% to 4.25%, yay!) and at the same time I will be taking her name off of the loan. I may misunderstand but it seems in NC I can’t take her name off of the title on the house until we’re legally divorced. Which is fine, at least the loan will be in my name only and it will be done at the same time as the refinance. So the first part of this question is, am I correct in assuming that about the title? That’s what the bank has told me at least. The second and more important question here though is the bank called me today making sure that my wife will be able to come to the closing to sign on papers since she’s on the title. I said absolutely and she would be more than happy to do so. But then when the title officer found out that we are in the process of a divorce she said she’s not sure if I’ll even be able to do this refinance in to my name only and that she’s going to have to speak with the legal team and get back to me. She said something about some weird property laws in NC. So my main reason for posting on the forum is to ask about that while I’m biting my nails waiting to hear back from the bank. Will I have any legal trouble proceeding with the refinance to take her name off, or will I have to wait?

  3. Assuming I can go through with this refinance but her name will remain on the title, what needs to be done post-divorce to get her name off of the title and is it a long/lengthy process? Is there any particular reason I should just wait to refinance after the divorce is final?

Getting the house in to my name only has been the biggest thing hanging over our heads. We just want to make sure it’s cut clean and ends up in only my name. I just need to know if we’re on the right track.

Thanks so much!

2

  1. You need to reduce your agreement to writing and have it notarized.

  2. You’ll need a free trader agreement to refinance.

  3. She’ll have to deed the house to you during the refinance.

If you don’t want to hire an attorney, then Rosen Online can help you accomplish these goals. You may find more information here:

3

Great, thank you. I am definitely signing up for and using your DIY program but I was going to wait until closer to our actual divorce so that I wasn’t paying for months that I can’t do anything with it since we have to wait anyways.

I just spoke to the bank and they confirmed that if I do the free trader agreement and then take it to the register of deeds then everything should be fine. Is there some special process for having her “deed” the house to me? Or is it just a matter of having her sign something at the closing for the refinance?

Edit: I just spoke with the register of deeds in Wake County. Would a quitclaim deed also work to get the property in only my name? And then couple it with a free trade agreement prior to the refinance? That seems like my best option right now, but I’m no lawyer. :slight_smile: Additionally, they say in order to change the name on a title you must submit a new deed. Would a quitclaim deed be sufficient for that and be all I need? Or would it also need to be a full on regular deed?

Thanks so much.

4

Im just getting ready to start the whole re fi process and am in the same situation, wife says she wants her name off both deeds. Please keep this post active to what nees to be done. Thanks, and good luck