Please help!

[shadow1886]

What is the name of your state? Georgia

I bought a house with my partner's mother (Jane) in 2002 and we all lived there for a while. When we bought the house, my partner and I had another house that we were paying the mortgage on, so we all agreed that her mother would pay the mortgage payment for the new house. About a year ago, Jane decided that she didn't want to pay her credit card bills anymore, so she just stopped paying them. Recently I found out that one of the credit card companies took her to court and had a judgment put on the house for what she owes them (approximately $17k) and another cc company is about to take her to court for over $30k she owes them. She has now decided she doesn't want to pay the mortgage anymore and wants to just let the house go into foreclosure. She has been living there with her other daughter and her daughter's husband but is planning to move to Indiana to live with her sister (the daughter and husband are going to get an apartment). Apparently they have pulled up flooring and started painting and not finished and our realtor thinks it will take approximately $12k to get the house back to a sellable condition so we can just make back what we owe. We don't have any equity because we have a second mortgage (HELOC).

So here's my question...what the heck can I do to get out from under this without foreclosing? We can possibly borrow the $12k from my parents to fix up the house and then try to sell it, but if the judgment is still attached to the title of the house then won't we be prevented from selling if we can't pay the $17k? Is it possible for Jane to quitclaim the house to me and my partner and then have the judgment not affect the sale because she's no longer on the title?

[moburkes]

You cannot get around the judgment. It was valid at the time it was filed. Otherwise, people would just keep quit claiming, and never be responsible for their debts, right? You can continue to make the mortgage payments, and then rent the house out. You will need Jane's signature to sign anyway.

[shadow1886]

see, that's the problem. She's been paying the mortgage this whole time and now she is refusing to pay anymore. If I could afford it by myself, there would be no problem.

So there is no way for me to get out from under her cc debt and sell this house?

[moburkes]

Originally Posted by shadow1886

see, that's the problem. She's been paying the mortgage this whole time and now she is refusing to pay anymore. If I could afford it by myself, there would be no problem.

So there is no way for me to get out from under her cc debt and sell this house?

You can try to refinance, but you'd need to pay off the leins.