Mortage Signed Under Duress
My aunt and uncle made a move to buy invenstment property in Florida. They had a major disagreement about a property that he wanted to bid on and she did not. He went ahead and bid on it, and signed all the mortgage documents at closing. My aunt, against her will, went down the next day and signed the closing documents after her husband pressured her by telling her he was going to lose all of his down payment. But next to each line where she signed she wrote "signed under duress". Does this void the whole deal? Is here husband still going to lose his down payment and escrow?
A court will usually invalidate a contract signed under duress. It DOES require going to court.
It is unlikely that you would lose your down payment money and escrow.
This is a situation where I would definatly consult an attorney.
It is doubtful that what you have described qualifies as duress. IN fact it doesn't meet any of the qualifications. Simply losing one's downpayment does not contitute duress.....
[addsig]
So even though she wrote next to every signature line "Signed Under Duress" that wouldn't void the mortgage?
If H signed all "the mortgage docs at closing" then they own the house...so I wouldn't expect the seller to willingly unwrap the deal and refund their money.
However, if they'll market the RE as L/O, as per the jillions of ingenious postings herein, they can come out and with a profit...so what's the problem?
John:
If the title is vested as H&W, May have funded but how would the deal have closed?
Duress, as the court usually sees it, represents someone standing there with a gun in their hand, "sign this or die" or at the very least a rubber hose or having you lovely wife locked up someplace and making the deed a condition of her release (or, depending on your point of view, her non-release). Although there have been cases of "psycological duress" I doubt that the amount of pressure your uncle put on your aunt could qualify as duress.
That said answering your question would require certain information that is not clear to me. Your uncle said she must sign or he'd loose the down payment. But this seems to have happened after the closing. Had the title transfered? Was this true? So what did the wife sign? Mortgage Documents? If the lender funded the loan and if the loan went into default and if the sale of the house were not sufficent to cover tha loan then you aunt may have a defense if the loan company decided to chase your aunt on her personal guarante then she MIGHT have a defense.
This is my understanding of the order of events, my uncle signed the closing documents (including mortgage docs) first and she signed them 2 days later after he persuaded her to.
I'm afraid I don't know at what point the title transferred. But I do know that only his name is on the deed. Hers is not.
It's a mess, I know, but I appreciate all of your insight.
You need a legal opinion for what is 'under duress".
Taking a step back...
He signs. No duress. No problems. He wants to do the deal and forcing her to sign is an indication that he wants to do the deal.
He put the money done. He is the one who made the commitment.
Lets assume that her signature is consider defective somehow. She comes of the agreement. The agreement does not require her and would still be valid even with just him.
If he signed something that he can not later perform on then yes he might lose his deposit. It is he who agreed to the deposit.
John
[ Edited by JohnMerchant on Date 06/29/2004 ]
sounds like she needs a divorce lawyer if she is going to attempt to transfer her own bad marriage to another party (seller/lender)
if she intends to stay married to the man, then they should agree to disagree and move forward.
At this point I think they'll be lucky if their marriage survives this crisis. But again, I appreciate all of your insights.
So I still haven't heard what the legal definition of "is" is??? Anyone remember?
webster says: is-present singular of be........kenmax