Whenyoudon’ttrustyourpartner, whatdoyoudo?

Tribune Content Agency Q: Wouldtherebe

any reason for me to sign a quitclaim deed? My husband is buying a house just in his name because we had to short sale my house that I bought, but we couldn’t afford the payments after I got pregnant twice and stopped working. I think he is trying to cheat me What do you think? that category. Since you think your husband is out to get you, or, at least exclude you from an asset you feel entitled to co-own, you shouldn’t sign anything. We suggest you talk to someone you trust (preferably an attorney) to go over your situation to get an outsider’s view of what is or might be going on.

One option is to seek advice from a divorce attorney, but we don’t know if that’s the route you want to go. You could also talk to a real estate attorney to understand what your husband is trying to do and see if there might be legitimate reasons for his plan.

We don’t have enough information from you to know what else is going on in your life. If your husband is buying a home in his name, we’d like to know the purpose of that purchase. Your husband may have decided to buy the home to fix up and resell to make money. That sounds fine. However, it seems to us that he may have asked you to sign over your interest in the home where you live. We don’t like the sound of that, even if he plans to refinance the home and use the proceeds to buy another home.

You need to know more about why he wants you to sign a quitclaim deed, why he needs to refinance the home you live in, and more about your own and your husband’s finances in general.

It’s quite possible too that his intention is to buy this other home with his own credit and the quitclaim deed relates to this other home. If he is buying the other home in his own name and you are separating, the quitclaim deed would show that you don’t have any interest in the home he is purchasing or has purchased. Depending on where you live, a spouse may have an interest in the other spouse’s property and the quitclaim deed would relinquish that right. You might be fine with that scenario, but if your husband is buying the home with money that belongs to you, we’re not sure that signing the quitclaim deed would work for you. On the other hand, if you’re wrong in your suspicions and your husband’s interests are honorable, asking you to sign a quitclaim deed could be a necessary step for his business needs. Consider that if he is buying the home as a business investment and he needs to keep you off title and off the mortgage to the other home, he might need to have you sign the quitclaim deed to have you relinquish any marital claim you may have to the property.

The lender or title company also might require it. In some states, you might be required to sign the mortgage on the property to relinquish any rights you may have on the property, but the quitclaim deed could work as well. So, it seems that there could be good reasons for a quitclaim deed but we also see plenty of pitfalls. The biggest issue, however, is that you don’t seem to feel you can ask him directly to explain why he wants this in a way that will help you understand. That makes us think you’re more like adversaries than partners.

Ilyce Glink is the creator of an 18-part webinar and ebook series called “The Intentional Investor: How to be wildly successful in real estate,” as well as the author of many books on real estate. She also offers information on her YouTube channel. (youtube.com/user/ExpertRealEstateTips).

Contact Ilyce and Sam through her website, ThinkGlink.com.

© 2016 Ilyce R. Glink and Samuel J. Tamkin. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.