A mortgage is a legal and recorded document that cannot typically be altered. Because, at the time of the original loan, the loan was based on the qualification of two individuals to obtain the financing, there is no way to 'take someone off' of a loan.

You can remove someone from the title of the property, provided they sign the appropriate papers, so that they are no longer a legal owner of the property, this has nothing to do with the mortgage loan however, and they will still be responsible for repayment.

Think of it this way, if you lent someone a large sum of money, and there were 2 people signing on the loan papers, and responsible for repaying you, would you accept that one of them didn't want to be responsible anymore? Probably not, as your qualification was dependent on both of them applying for the loan, and both using their income/assets/credit to obtain the loan.

The only way to take someone off of a mortgage is to actually pay that mortgage off in full, typically via a refinance, and apply for the new loan solely in your name. If you are able to qualify for a new loan and obtain one, when the old loan is paid off that person would no longer have any liability. Unfortunately, because the initial loan was based on both of you, and it is legally recorded as such, there is no way to remove someone from the liability that they signed for at the time the loan was extended.

If the removal is based on a court order (divorce decree, etc) you can attempt to speak with your attorney to see if the other party will allow some type of extension until you are able to get financed on your own, but unfortunately there is no way to simply remove someone from a loan unless you can obtain new financing only in your name and pay the old loan off.

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I'm assuming that you are a joint borrower on a mortgage with another person. The answer to your question can actually be two fold:

1. If the other party wants to be the only person on the mortgage, they must simply refinance the property in their name only. They would apply for a loan in just their name and have you execute what is called a "Quit Claim Deed" which give ownership from you to the other party. The problem with this is, can this party qualify for the loan on their own. What I mean is, does this person have enough income to cover the mortgage payment and all their other debt? which brings us to option number 2.

2. If this person cannot qualify for the note in their name only, what options do you have? The answer is simple, only one option. This option is to sell the home and split the equity that has built up (if any).

 

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There are actually a couple ways to get out of a mortgage when someone wants out:

To get your name off of the mortgage, there are three possibilities:

The first is what is called a "name delete assumption." It is not very well known, but it has been known to happen.  In fact, here's what another reader recently emailed to me after reading my answer to a similar question asked for this Wiki:

"Thank you for your information in Mortgage News Daily about taking someone off a mortgage without refinancing.  You have just saved me a bundle of money."

You would need to call the servicer (the company to which you send your payments) and find out if they grant name delete assumptions. If they do, they will want to make sure that the remaining partner is able to make the payments on his/her own. Once they make that determination, they will release the departing partner and require the remaining partner to re-affirm the debt and security instrument.

If the mortgage company does not do name delete assumptions, option number two is a refinance. Your the remaining partner would have to apply for a new mortgage and at the time of the closing of the refinance, the remaining partner would need to provide the departing partner with a quit claim deed to take him/her off of the title.

If the remaining partner can't show that they can afford the old payment on their own (in the case of a name-delete assumption) or qualify for a refinance. the only thing left to do is sell.

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