Great question Steven Hoeke . I believe this had only happened to me once and we had to take the long road of having a judge order that the property belonged to the one spouse. If I remember correctly it took more than 6 months.

Steven Hoeke hi Steven... one of the first things I do when I get a new listing is look up the deed. (Actually, I do the same when a buyer client wants to make an offer on a house.) Then I get one of my trusty real estate attorneys involved to help resolve the issue. I would not list the property until resolution... our listing contracts and purchase contracts have wording in them where the seller states there is nothing that prohibits the seller from transferring the property.

I don't think any of us as real estate agents can do much to get an uncooperative ex to do anything and I'm not sure we should do.

Not returning calls, cannot be contacted?

   Lawyer up!   

  And the sooner you start on it, the better.  If your Courts are clogged up it may take some time to get a hearing (see the distressing comment from Bob "RealMan" Timm on this page about a case taking six months).

A lawsuit can be filed, and here in Florida a Judge can grant a Certificate of Title or a Judicial Deed (aka "Judge's Deed).  That gives the injured party Clear Title/Clear Deed.

If the ex is not responding, and there's no way to get him to do so, then I suspect court is the way to go, and the sale will have to wait. I wouldn't list it until it was resolved.

That being said, I haven't had to deal with this myself, so perhaps someone will have a better idea!

This is why everyone needs an agent representing them, Steven. As to what to do, my bloodhounds stand ready should I be given the duty of the scent Steven Hoeke 

If you have the decree and no accompanying copy of the deed of transfer best to get title search. No record deed, no listing until the issue is resolved. And court may be the only recourse. You may inquire about what the attorney's did to complete the decree order at the time of divorce. It may be some incompetent or negligent attorney has it in his file. 

Not quite the same but I did have a Trust case where they could not find a trust recorded. The hardest part on that was going to the attorney for his copy, he was in jail and his company gone. Zero paperwork. So yes we had to go back to court. Good luck, I see court as the only way out.

Of course, this is caught before I take the listing. Vetting not only the client but also the property.  Who holds title?  Who has the authority to sell? 

I saw this once with a break in the chain of title.  I could not connect the dots.

I escalated the matter to the title attorney, who researched and found the broken link in another legal document. Boom! 

I don't have any experience with this. Can't remember the last time I had a divorce listing. A quick Google search states that it's the grantee that has to get the deed recorded so since she didn't do it, she needs to go back to court. 

Steven Hoeke I had a listing about 3 years ago, the divorce decree had stated that the husband would get the land. I recommend that both sign the listing agreement and split half and half because a deed was not signed. Well a year later, the husband did show the full divorce decree and the ex-wife decided and agreed to sign the deed at closing. We had an attorney handle the conversation. I did not take the listing unless the ex was going to sign the deed.

May be best to go straight to the judge who issued the decree.

Sounds like it back to court again, something was wrong the first time around.

Sue the lawyer who released funds prior to obtaining title execution

These things can get very complicated so have her go to the attorney who handled her divorce as that should have been filed and recorded as part of the divorce. If she did not have an attorney, she needs to get one and take all her documents and paperwork for review. A good attorney will be able to resolve it fairly easily.

It seems there must be more to this story since if she has to buy out the ex husband's interest, it would be in his best interest to cooperate. And if there is a provision in the FJ that she has to split the proceeds with the ex, again that would benefit  him. This may not be as cut and dried as it sounds.

I never go on a listing appointment without checking the public records for ownership and go back at least two previous owners. If something feels off, I have the seller order a preliminary title search before listing. It is cheap insurance. 

I took a rental listing once on a property that was headed for foreclosure but the seller had already met with an attorney and had a letter from the attorney stating that it could be rented but not for more than six months at a time and the lease had to clearly state that the tenant knew and understood the situation. With seller's permission, I called the attorney directly to confirm and was able to proceed.

Once I was on the buyer side and the listing showed two trustees but the public records did not and eventually a third owner surfaced. I had my RE attorney order a full title search (his office owned a title company also) and he found that the property was left to the son and daughter but, for some unknown reason, the daughter and her husband put it in their trust. So the son was also on title but not in the trust. It was a mess and took my attorney and the sellers' attorney a while to untangle it. Finally a corrective deed was done but I did not allow the buyers to proceed until things were sorted out.

Stay in your own lane on this for liability reasons. Be the source of the source.

Tell your client to get a hold of her attorney find out why this wasn't already done and fix it. Ink the listing subject to receipt of a clean deed. Then wait

Have the Title Company try to get it signed. Next step is to call an Attorney.

Family court retains jurisdiction.   

Bring a Motion to Enforce Property Division.  The clerk of the court can sign the deed on the ex's behalf, if the judge so orders.

You might even be awarded sanctions.