Nolo's Essential Guide to Divorce - Emily Doskow [166]
If you had a divorce lawyer, the lawyer may have taken care of any required deeds, but double-check to be sure. You need to know where the deed is, anyway, so put your hands on it and make sure the property is in one spouse's name alone. If it's not, you can either ask your lawyer to prepare a deed or do it yourself. Either way, you first need to find out from your lawyer or through one of the resources listed below-what type of deed you need. Most likely it will be a "quitclaim deed" or a "grant deed." You can get a deed form online, from an office supply store, or from a title company. (Wherever you get it, make sure it meets the requirements of your state-every state has its own rules on what deeds must contain and how they must be executed.) On the form, enter your property's legal description and the appropriate names, sign the form in front of a notary, and record (file) it at the land records office in the county where the property is located.
Learn more about deeds. Most of the divorce websites listed in Chapter 16 have some basic information on deeds for transferring real estate after divorce. In addition, these resources can help you with preparing real estate transfer documents:
www.udeed.com and www.usdeeds.com are websites that offer deed preparation and other assistance with property transfers for a (not insignificant) fee.
For the answers to basic questions, check out Nolo's website at www.nolo. com for FAQs on deeds.
If you live in California, you'll learn everything about deeds and find deed forms in Deeds for California Real Estate, by Mary Randolph (Nolo).
4. Transfer Your Personal Items and Cars
Make sure that all of the vehicles you owned together are transferred into the name of the right person. You can usually do this by getting forms from your state department of motor vehicles. Forms are often available online for downloading. The person giving up ownership will need to sign. Then either send or take them in to be processed at the DMV. If you have a car loan, you'll also have to make sure that the spouse who's giving up the car is no longer responsible for that loan. The best way to do that is for the person keeping the car to get a new loan.
If you have stuff in the basement that your spouse is supposed to take, send a gentle reminder that you'd like it gone. Even though it might seem like there's no harm in storing some of your spouse's things, it's a good idea to complete all the terms of the divorce order soon after it's entered. It avoids confusion about what belongs to whom, and it can help you get a sense of closure.
5. Update Insurance Coverage and Beneficiaries
Insurance policies are easy to neglect, but it's important that you review all of your insurance and get it in order. If one insurance agent helps you with all your coverage, schedule a meeting to go over everything. Try to gather as much information as you can, and avoid buying new products right away, except the life and disability insurance that you should have if you'll be paying support. Insurance agents are salespeople first, so maintain a "buyer beware" attitude.
Health insurance. Chapter 11 describes in detail how to use the federal law called COBRA if you're staying on your former spouse's health insurance plan. There are very strict time limits for signing up for continued coverage, so if you've been putting this off, find your paperwork and get it taken care of right away. Verify that the plan administrator has been notified of COBRA election by a nonemployee spouse.
Life or disability insurance. If you own life insurance, you may want to change the beneficiary from your former spouse to someone else. Even if you don't want to make this change, you still have to fill out new forms. That's because in many states, the original designation is revoked by the divorce. So if you want your ex-spouse to get the benefits because he or she would be raising the kids alone in the event of your death, you'll need to fill out a new beneficiary designation form after the divorce