Your settlement agreement is signed and filed with the court. The court awards you the house. But your ex-spouse is still on title as the owner and the borrower. An interspousal deed is required for you to be the sole owner. Refinancing is necessary for you to be the sole borrower.
Change Owners by Intersposal Deed
A interspousal deed is a fanch way of saying deed, A deed is a paper document. In this document, the owner is the grantor, and the new owner is the grantee. The deed has mandatory formatting and information requirements.
Examples of required formats are on the first page, the upper-left-hand corner must be blank, and the mail tax statements to address must be at the bottom of the page. Examples of required information are names of the parties, legal description, and property tax number.
The ex-spouse, who is not the owner, signs the deed; a notary must acknowledge the signature. You record the deed with the county. The change of owners is now of public record.
The former spouse is removed as owner but remains as a borrower.Refinance
The bank will not remove the ex-spouse as owner. Federal loan prohibits the bank from calling the loan entirely due and payable because of a divorce. So, the status quo remains. The only way to remove the non-owning spouse is to refinance the loan. The owning spouse takes out a new loan on the property and pays off the old loan.
In reality, this has many problems. The owning ex-spouse may not qualify for a new loan. The loan may be at a very favorable rate. Often, the non-owning ex-spouse remains the borrower and relies on the other ex-spouse to make the payments. It is in the best interest of both parties to keep the loan current to avoid foreclosure and destruction of credit scores.
Summary
To remove an ex-spouse as an owner, you need a inter-spousal deed and to record the deed with the county. Recording updates the public records of real property owners. Removing a spouse as an owner does not remove them as a borrower. That requires a new loan from the remaining owner.