First, there's the quit claim deed, which removes Dan's claim to the property. That's pretty straightforward.
But removing Dan's claim to the property doesn't do a thing towards removing the bank's claim to Dan! To get him off the mortgage, you'll have to refinance, I think. The proportion of your take-home pay isn't the number they are going to look at, they are going to look at the proprtion to your gross pay. The guideline used to be 28% for the mortgage, and 33% for total debt payments, but I have no idea what's up with that anymore. You will be able to include spousal support (not child support, I think) in those numbers. And of course, if you get some money in the settlement you can use some or all of that to reduce the mortgage amount when you refinance.
Take all of that with a little grain of salt, since every case is different, but I think it is generally right.
