If you and your spouse have decided to go your separate ways, there’s a good chance that you or the courts will work to divide assets equitably during the divorce. If you’re one of the many individuals who own commercial property or a business, you’ll want to proceed carefully to ensure there are no issues with your business or the commercial property. We’ve had many clients come to us expressing interest in maintaining their business during their divorce or ensuring that their spouse is removed from the title as quickly as possible, and while we can certainly help with this process, know that this can’t be done in a deceitful or unscrupulous manner. Below, we explain how to remove a spouse from a commercial title before or during a divorce.
Removing A Spouse From A Commercial Title
If you’re hoping to get your spouse’s name removed from the commercial title before you officially file for divorce so that you can retain full possession of the commercial property, we have some bad news for you. You can’t quickly and discreetly remove a named party from a title in Minnesota or anywhere else in the US for that matter.
For the sake of this blog, we are working on the premise that your spouse wants to be removed or is at least consenting to having their name removed from the commercial title. They may understand that it’s easier for both parties if the title remains in just one person’s name after the divorce, or they may agree to the move as part of a divorce settlement. Either way, both parties are willing participants to the change, which makes everything much smoother.
In these scenarios, your title service company will move forward with what’s known as a quitclaim deed. This simple deed is an agreement that is used when both parties trust one another and are trying to cease one party’s right to claim ownership of a property. It’s also commonly used in instances where an inheritance is passed on to multiple children. Instead of having all five surviving children making decisions or being forced to participate in a future sale, a quitclaim deed can consolidate decision making power to a sole heir to expedite the decision making process down the road.
During a divorce, one spouse would simply sign a quitclaim deed, relinquishing their right to claim ownership of a property in the future. This quitclaim deed would remove their name from the title, leaving the other spouse as the sole named owner of the commercial property. We’ve helped clients with quitclaim deeds in the past, and we can assist with this process during a divorce or if you need to remove a named party from a title.
For more information about quitclaim deeds or removing a spouse or former business owner for a commercial title, reach out to the team at Commercial Partners today at (612) 337-2470.