09/03/2026
Three states now require conventional mortgages to be assumable in a divorce. Not one of them releases the departing spouse from the loan.
I have had this conversation four times this year with attorneys who read those laws as a release. They are not. A quitclaim deed moves the property; it does not move the debt.
Worth twenty minutes before your next settlement conference.
Three states now require conventional mortgages to be assumable in a divorce. Not one of them releases the departing spouse from the loan. Maryland, Virginia, and California have each enacted statutes requiring lenders to include an assumption provision when a marriage ends. I read all three in thei...