My best friend is facing some serious assaults on his wallet from his wretched, bilious harridan of an ex-wife.  It's some straight-up villainous stuff, no two ways about it.  Anyway, he's got this place up in Arkansas that he bought with cash as a kind of retirement home for when he gets done contracting.  Everyone can see that the ex-wife will come gunning for all his assets at some point, the house included, so he asked me if I would be willing to take ownership of the place so that she can't touch it.

I'd love to help him out so that he doesn't lose the house, but the question is how do I go about this?  Are you able to just transfer the title over to a non-family member, or does there have to be a sale?  

For obvious reasons, I'd say to consult an attorney on this situation. Arkansas law is tough in terms of if an asset was purchased while married then it is owned by both the husband and wife. If your friend sells or transfers it without some agreement from the ex-wife first, then it is just a lawsuit waiting to happen. If the purchase was made after the divorce and no funds were used that were apart of the settlement or divorce order... then if he is somehow worried that she might come after the property... I would still talk to an attorney to cover all bases. There are a number of ways he can transfer the property to you. If he has a mortgage he can simply sell it to you sub2. 

Hope that is of a little assistance.

This was done long after the marriage.  Just last year, in fact.  It's just that she's come back like a bad rash and is all of a sudden trying to extort money out of him any way she can.

What is this Sub2 thing you're talking about? Do you mind breaking that down for me?

Sub2= Subject to

http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2008/3/1/b...

Theres a lot more info on it here. Just type it into yor search bar and start reading :)

Originally posted by @Alex SImon

.....assaults on his wallet from his wretched, bilious harridan of an ex-wife.

Mad props for the vivid use of vocabulary! So are you saying he bought the property after the divorce? If that's the case, I can't see how it could be involved in any settlement (disclaimer: I am no lawyer and have never been divorced, thank goodness).

The simple answer to your initial question about transferring property (although it's probably not the answer you need) is that he can quit claim the property to you. That means whatever interest he had in the property is now yours. I'm not saying this is what you should do. In fact DO NOT do this without talking to a competent CPA (who you are certain knows plenty about real estate transactions ) because there may be unpleasant tax consequences.

To those who have asked, this is in no way part of a divorce settlement or back child support, or anything rational or reasonable.  My buddy is that rare breed of guy who actually pays far more than the court-ordered amounts, like clockwork, to his ex-wife so that his daughter can be well cared for.  And the ex-wife in question is that rare breed of pestilent spawn of loathsome abomination who always wants more, and keeps ransoming access to the child and concocting ever wilder accusations in order to get her way.  She's just thrown the ultimate Hail Mary pass in her latest attempt to drag my friend through the muck, and we're all genuinely worried about how this will play out, whether she'll get an extremely sympathetic judge who will ignore all evidence and reason and find for her based purely on gender stereotypes.  That could lead to major pay-outs, which is exactly why she started this mess, and that in turn could lead to court-ordered asset liquidation.  So now we're trying to get this house that he *just bought with cash* out of his name and into mine before any official suits or subpoenas are filed, so that no matter how rabid his ex-wife's ambulance chaser may be, they will not be able to get to it.

Thank you to the folks who chimed in with possible avenues where we might proceed.  I'll start by looking into finding a lawyer to make sure the transfer is done legally and that we know about all applicable taxes and such.  

But seriously.  Seriously, this woman is a monster.

"wretched, bilious harridan of an ex-wife"

"she's come back like a bad rash"

"rare breed of pestilent spawn of loathsome abomination"

"Seriously, this woman is a monster."

OMG  I'm laughing so hard I'm in tears!!!!!