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Six months ago my daughter's father came to me and announced he was dying of cancer and wanted me to have his family home. The understanding was that when I died, that the house would go to our daughter and she could sell it, live in it, rent it out, etc. I agreed to this and we did a Quit Claim Deed for the house.
Now it is December and he not only survived the cancer but is doing well. Nothing wrong in that. I asked him what he wanted done about the Quit Claim Deed and he told me that he was offered 55,000 dollars in cash plus another house for his house and he took the deal. He has spent the money and has even sold the house he received as part of the deal. I did not think that could happen! The deed is registered in the county he resides. Doesn't that come up on the title search? Is this even something worth pursuing? I talked to the guy who bought this home and he said he was unaware of any prior deed and "tough luck" was what he told me. It just smellls like fish to me and perhaps I am better off not even dealing with this but then how do I remove myself from any kind of liability pertaining to the Quit Claim Deed?
When your husband gave you the deed for the house, did you have it recorded in the county where the house is located? If so, then you own the house and you can force the other guy out. If the deed was not recorded then you are not the owner and have no liability regarding the house.
Then get yourself to a real estate attorney first thing in the morning to file a lawsuit to get this guy out of your house. Your daughter's father may get sued but if he gave the guy a quit claim deed then he probably doesn't have to worry too much. The guy who bought the house from him should have had a title search done. It would have shown that you are the owner.
If you registed the deed with the recorder of deeds. then you still own the house, since he could not legally sell it.
You can easily go to the court house and ask to see a titles and deeds to the property.
Assumeing he owned the property when he signed it over to you, since a quick claim deed does not promise anyone that they own it,
If he sold it on quick claim to someone else, most likely they did not do a title search. but a quck claim deed only says that you transfer to them any ownership you have in that property if any. It contains no warranty to ownership of the property.
So you have a choice, it is his house, when he thought he was dying, he wanted you to have it for your daughter, but he did not die, so really from a moral issue, he should get the house back.
Now, you still legally own it, and the new owner will have to get a deed from you to actually own it. I would get your attorney to review it, and write to the new owner to let them know they don't really own it.
Make them pay for your legal fees and for the title work to chage it over to them. Unless you just want to keep the property, in which you most likely can act.
But you need to act, doing nothing can make you lose your rights in the future.
I took today off from work and went to see the attorney who originally did the deed between my ex and I. We went to the court house and there it was - the quit claim deed that we had signed in May of 2006. It is a mess since the "owner" of the house claims he had no knowledge of what was going on, but ignorance is not going to help him, since there was to be a title search done before he purchased the home. I do not know what all went on with that - apparently it was all cash and a sweet deal for my ex and his friend.
I went and saw the home and there has been many repairs done to it - the siding was replaced, the carpets replaced, a half bath installed off the kitchen, new paints, it all looks great. The original wood stairs and floors have all been refurbished. Ready to move in! lol..
When my attorney told the guy who thinks he owns the house that he is not the legal owner but that I am the legal owner, he just quit talking and said he would contact an attorney.
I asked him not to do that, at least not to fight this, as I do not want this home. As nice as it is, it is located 200 miles from here. All my youngest son's specialists are here, which was the major reason for moving here after the divorce. I want to be free and clear of this home and any future liaibility concerning this home. I told this guy that if he will pay the fees to make this legal, he can have the house and I will sign it over. So this Friday I go back and meet with my attorney, this guy and his attorney in the Title Office.
I called my daughter and told her what had happened and what will happen and she said, "so Dad left us up the creek again without a paddle". She is pretty upset since she loved Grandma and Grandpa's house so much. But... what can one say? Sometimes it is best to close that door.
I want to thank all the responses and advice. It truly helped. Bless you all.
I agree with Chucks advice, especially on the ethical issue. But, if I were in your shoes, I wouldn't resist the chance to squeeze the "owner" and your daughter's dad a bit. So what I would do is say to the owner, that you will deed to property to him for the sum of all your legal costs, PLUS $1000 for the trouble this caused you. If he balks at that, tell him he can sue the person who sold him something he wasn't entitled to sell.
All is said and done now. I no longer have any claim or deed or interest in that home and I feel much better. I truly did have thoughts of displacing the "owner" and claiming the home but what purpose would it serve? I did not ask for any compensation, however I received $500.00 to cover two days wages and mileage for the 800 miles.
I still wonder how the transaction made it past the clerk of deeds but I am not going to lose sleep over it. The only thing I can think of was that my ex did have the original deed and that was used. Even though he told me after his Mom died he could not find any of her papers, except for the will. Still ...
I want to thank you Lisa, Fr. Chuck, and Scott for your advice. It truly helped me focus.
Yes sometimes the collar makes it hard to say what I would really love to do, and at times between the what we want to do, a moral voice needs to also say maybe what we should do.
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