In 1984 I was married, and we purchased a home and 33 acres in Minnesota, on contract for deed.
Shortly after the sale to us the sellers attorney notified us that the land we purchased was actually 2 seperate parcels, (a 30 acre parcel which the house was situated on, and a 3 acre parcel abutting the 30), and that he had failed to transfer the 3 acre parcel into our names on the contract for deed.
The sellers attorney,(who had power of attorney over the sellers legal matters), then transfered the 3 acres into my name only, at that time.(I was in my early twenties, and unfamiliar and inexperianced with such matters, and thought it to be a matter of course).
In 1992 we were divorced. I was awarded the marital home stead(and custody of the children), she was awarded a marital lien against the homestead(I informed the attorney who handled the divorce of the existance of both parcels of marital property, and assumed in his proffessional capacity, he would properly handle the matter).
My now X (who represented herself), was provided a standard form quit claim deed by the divorce attorney (again, at this time I was unaware that the 3 acre parcel was not included on the form of quit claim).
I then recorded the quitclaim deed, and shortly thereafter, recorded the divorce decree.
In 1998 I was made an offer to purchase 14 acres of the marital homestead
(which would be derived from the 30 acres).
I expected at that time that if my X had had properly attached and thereby given notice of the existance of her marital lien, it would have to paid off in order that the land be transfered to the purchasers.
(Coinsidently, the attorney who handled my divorce, also handled the title search and land transfer of the 14 acres, representing the purchasers interest).
The attorney provided a quitclaim deed to me which I endorsed, and the land transfer proceeded without incident of the marital lien arrising. I then assumed for certain that right of the marital lien interest of my X had somehow been lost, because possibly she had not taken some type of action to attach to the 30 acres within a year of the divorce decree.
In 2003 my youngest daughter reached the age of 18 years, thereby triggering the marital lien payment as becomeing due and payable, only as I thought, if my X had properly attached to the 30 acre homestead.
(hindsight is 20/20 as they say).
In 2004 I mortgaged the 30 acres, again without a title company requiring the payment of any marital lien, in order that the mortgage company become first lienholder.
In 2005 I again mortgaged the 30 acres, paying off the first mortgage. With another title search, no marital lien issue surfaced. I was ceartain then that no marital lien right of the X existed.
In 2009 my X brought an enforcment action claiming her lien amount with interest due and payable.
The court determined that she did in fact have a valid claim, and issued an order on June 25, 2009, that directed me to pay her approximatly $8,600 within 60 days, or she could proceed with a statutory execution and sell the 30 acre homestead to to satisfy the lien amount. (the order also states that the 14 acres sold from the original 30 acres will not be affected by the lien enforcment order). The order states that the decree of the parties was not recorded.
I have since brought post trial motions to stay the execution, or expedite the matter, as the order was not issued in accordance with Minn. statute, as it must state if there are any homestead right interest of someone other than myself, if there is a homestead exemption, and is the property encumbered beyond its fair market value. Also the court did not determine the value of the property. I also claim that the X did not give proper notice of her lin interest and that the court determine the priority order of her lien.
I have had no response to date.
There are two seperate issues at hand:
(1) The 3 acre parcel remains soley in my name an unaddressed to date(I was not aware of the this issue until researching to defend myself against the lien enforcment action).
Q. Does my X have any legal interest or claim as to the 3 acres?
Q. If the 30 acre homstead were to be sold at execution, the 3 acres would become land locked(no access from the u s highway it abutts is allowed) could I force easment over the 30 acres which have always been used to access the 3 acres?
Q. Does the attorney who handled the divorce have any liability in this matter of the 3 acres?
(2) In regard to the marital lien issue:
Q. Does the attorney who handled the 14 acre purchase have any liability as to the marital lien not having been paid at that time of the land transfer.(would this issue not result in his clients having a clouded title?)
Q. Do any of the title companies who have been involved in the land transfer or mortgages have any liability in not discovering and paying the marital lien?