Q: My ex-husband died 4 years ago and he lived in Delaware we got a simple divorce with our home in Md his name was never .

A: It sounds like a matter of "pay me now, or pay me (much more) later," and it will get even worse if you continue to ignore it. What would have been a simple corrective deed if it was signed by your ex, or, if he refused to cooperate, a court order ancillary to the divorce decrees, will now be much more complex. If you'd brought this up during the estate by filing a claim, the corrective deed could have been filed by the PR of the estate or resolved as a claim against the estate.

At very least, you either need to convince the widow to re-open the estate for the purpose of filing a corrective deed; or, you need to file a Complaint to Quiet Title. If you fail to do that and pass away yourself, the first option will disappear, and your estate will need to quiet title or some prospective heir will need to prove title with no witnesses. Many of these cases result in forfeiture or escheat for unpaid taxes or mortgage, but it is possible to it. It is often best financed by selling the house, but it can probably be funded in the refinance with a carefully drafted retainer agreement. You really need a lawyer who understands this area of real estate law and has done these before.

A: What needs to happen depends on what was supposed to happen to the property after your divorce. If a divorce decree required that this be signed over to you, then it might be a (relatively) simple matter of having the Personal Representative of his Estate signing over the deed to complete the paperwork he should have done years ago. Alternatively you might be able to get a Trustee appointed to do the same.

However, if the property was supposed to be sold, or proceeds divided, then it will be far more complicated to resolve as by operation of law in Maryland you each owned 1/2 after divorce and his 1/2 would go through his estate. You might need to negotiate with the estate to "buy out" the portion in the estate, and if that couldn't happen, file a sale in lieu of partition action.

This will likely need to involve both a Delaware attorney (to re-open the estate) and a Maryland attorney (to deal with the title).

A: Was there any agreement that you can prove, in writing, even emails and correspondence, regarding his relinquishing an interest in the marital home? A transfer of an interest in land requires a writing and a signature ordinarily, and you may be stuck. Legally, upon your divorce, regardless of how the property was originally titled (Tenants by the Entireties or Joint Tenants with Right of Survivorship), by law the ownership interests of former spouses are converted to "Tenants in Common." That means, you each own one half of the property, and upon your ex husband's death, his estate owns his half, and now his heirs under his will (or pursuant to law if he has not heirs) own his share. Because you state he died without a will, then Delaware law will determine what interest his legal heirs have in assets of his estate. You will need to check with a DE lawyer to determine what interest his spouse at the time of his death has in your property, and what interest his children have (both his children with you and his children with the second wife). Generally, however, it works like this: if he died with a spouse and children with that spouse, then his spouse inherits the first $50,000 of his property, plus 1/2 of the balance, plus the right to use any real estate for life, then his children inherit everything else; or, if he died with a spouse and at least one child from that spouse and other children from him and you, then his spouse inherits 1/2 of his intestate property, plus the right to use any real estate for life, and then his children inherit everything else. So you see, you now have one or more co-owners of your property, some of whom could be your own children, while definitely one of them is also your ex-husband's new wife. If you can prove your husband transferred his interest to you as part of the divorce, you might petition a court to order reformation of the deed, but I fear you may not have a legal basis sufficient to achieve that result. If your ex-husband's widow is amenable to working something out, or cooperating in both waiving her interest in the property, perhaps that would be he best way forward. however, that leaves your children (or her and your ex-husband's children) to also waive their interests under his estate. You're going to need a DE lawyer familiar with probate estates to assist you, as well as a Maryland lawyer experienced with probate estates to file an ancillary estate matter here in MD to address the MD real property issues. The two lawyers will have to work together. This is why everyone needs to have a lawyer before heading to court, even for a "simple" divorce, as you are now discovering you missed a huge whopper of an issue that could have been simply addressed by a written agreement incorporated into the divorce. Ultimately, if you cannot resolve the issue in your favor, the house will be sold and the proceeds split between you on the one hand, and the heirs at law for you ex-husband on the other.