Divorce and We Own a House

I personally would wait until the divorce is final and all the assets have been declared and divided.

Hire a lawyer or a mediator to get things squared away - custody, support, etc.

I would not move out until it's final. My husband and his ex were able to live under the same roof while their divorce was processed. They were amicable as well. No kids. but amicable.

I can tell you its not easy. I did this myself 6 years ago. We had to wait till divorce was final. We got a Divorce Decree that he had to do this in 6 months after the divorce was final. He also had to pay a share of the home value to me. It was agreed that he pay 10,000 in 5 years or contingent on the sale of the home. It was decided that amount after we figured, how much I paid down payment, what I put into the mortgage, devalue, increase in property taxes, increase in value of the home and possible default. It was not a set amount it was just something he decided on. I will let you know, IF he does NOT do this, you are basically screwed if he defaults. That is what happened to me, my ex drew up bogus papers and brought them for me to sign. I was a stupid idiot and didnt read through them. He did it cause re-financing would have upped his payments 1000 dollars a month extra, why? cause the dumb butt had horrible credit and thats why we used my collateral to get the loan in the first place dumb dumb dumb... we also had an FHA loan, and in order to get me out of that it was another 600 bucks to arbitration that he would have had to foot, and a penalty on the loan.
So anyway, I was wondering why I was getting odd letters from Well Fargo, and finally called after 4 years. I KNOW I KNOW I was too trusting. They told me I was not off the mortgage, and my ex was in jeopardy of default, they the house would go into foreclosure in 3 months. GOOD THING I called. The butt hadnt, even started paying me for the 10 grand yet either. So long story short, I poked and prodded him until he got on it and fixed it, but it didnt last he defaulted and had to do a quick sale about 2 years later. SO PISSED. We had to sell for less than we paid for the house, I had to be there for closing and I lived 5 hours away. I didnt get any money from the home, and he had a cleaning service come and gut the house of my belongings that he allowed me to store for some time in the attic till I got my house. YEP all that was tossed. To boot we had to cough up 5 grand to pay off the remainder of what didnt get covered in the sale. I should say I had to cause he was broke...
we also departed on amicable terms, and it was great till I got remarried and had kids, and a different life. He went coo coo for coco puffs. That was the end of that, and now I hate him and we are mortal enemies.

BTW: Divorce Decrees are not a free ticket to get your name off anything, the only thing they are good for is litigation later if he doesnt hold up his end of the bargin. Be prepared to pay a lot of money or he has to pay a lot of money to fix this, especially if you both worked and contributed to the Mortgage. Once he re-fi's with only one source of income it will go significantly up

ADDITION: I suggest you BOTH sell this house together. Get out if it now. He doesnt need that big of a home, and you are already looking for another place. IF you can hang on living together till end of divorce and use this time to sell it together, I am sure your both better off this way. Its final and you wont have to worry about what he is or is not doing. I can bet his payments will not lessen, in fact they will go way up with out you on it.

Draft a separation agreement, have it reviewed by someone you trust-preferrably an attorney-then deal with the house. You can "quit claim" in Maryland-not sure about Texas. You can be off the mortgage with a refi, if he qualifies-and still be on the deed-probably as a "tenant-in-common", if you are divorced by then. (Your current ownership is most likely "tenants-by-entirety".) If something were to happen to your husband-why wouldn't you want the children to have the proceeds from the sale of the house? They might not benefit unless he has a will-you must make sure to protect them-at the very least. Who will pay the rent on the rental house? What if he changes his mind? Things are amicable now-but you can't imagine how circumstances can change-best of luck.

You really should wait until the divorce is final and all assets are divided. Generally after the divorce you have two weeks to sign the quit claim deed and he has six months to refinance the mortgage. After six months he is required to sell the home if he cannot refinance.

If you decide to deal with the house ahead of time you still need to have a quit claim deed prepared and signed and a value assessed for the equity in the home for final division of assets.

Typically a quit claim deed relieves you of your rights to the property but not your obligations. In other words if you sign one he can do whatever he wants with it and you have no say, but if he decides to default on the loan you are on the hook for the full amount.

My ex had 6 months to refinance the house to get me off. He didn't, and the house went into default. I told him I would bring the mortgage current and assume payments but he had to sign a quit claim and move out. That gave me time to find an investor to help refinance without having to worry that he would be in the house trashing it anymore than he already had.

I would highly recommend settling the property issues first; amicable can turn ugly really fast over minor things.

I don't know about the laws in Texas, but ownership and financial liability are usually treated as separate legal issues. Does Texas have collaborative divorce proceedings? You sound like good candidates.

it is completely possible to have a friendly divorce! While not always true (after all we split for a reason) I have a great ex husband, he was just a really really bad husband, lol. I got an attorney, he went with me although the attorney was sure to point out she was representing me and only me. We went over what we wanted (split the bill) she submitted the paperwork and it was done in mere months, with kids.

As for the house I'm not sure and I'd stay till the paperwork was done, but I bought a house after I left my ex husband, but before the divorce was final. it was only in my name, we filed a quit claim deed with the divorce papers and that was that. It may be different in TX than OH, but a free consult with an attorney willing to help your divorce go smoothly will answer any questions you have.

I'd speak to an attorney to see what they best way to handle this. But my opinion would be that it would be OK to move out before the divorce is final. That's usually what happens. Is he going to buy you out? The house is half yours so you could either sell the house and split the profit (if any) or if he wants the house, pay you for part of it. An attorney would help you sort this out. Good luck!

With children and a home you should contact an attorney pronto.

You might have something put in the divorce decree that he gets the house and you're letting him have it freely, but you HAVE to get it taken care of with the bank. It all has to be done with lawyers. Get a divorce lawyer and get an estate lawyer ASAP. You HAVE to make sure that your interests are represented here and everything is followed through to the letter so that two years down the road the bank isn't taking action against you and your credit starts to tank because you only took care of this in your divorce decree.

Sometimes "cheap and easy" isn't the smart way to go if what you really want is "smooth, correct, and legal."

My husband is a mortgage banker and deals with this quite often. He definitely will need to start the refi process soon and depending on how complicated it is, it could be closed rather quickly. Rates are good right now, so that is a plus. Definitely consult an attorney and let them know what you want and have it written into the divorce decree...do this step first BEFORE the refi because he has had to have clients go back and have it written in. I don't know if you need/want help but if you have refi questions, feel free to call him...Doug at ###-###-####.

You really need to consult an attorney.

I don't have any legal background, and laws vary from state to state, however, this is what I believe to be true...

Your marital status has no bearing on getting a new mortgage. However, when the application is filled out, it will need to include only his income. You should also keep in mind that his income/expenses will change once the divorce is final.

You should not take your name off the deed until your name is off the mortgage. I would think the easiest way to do this would be as part of the divorce agreement.

You had better get a real estate attorney right now on this. He might lie through his teeth to you that you are off the title, but what matters is that you may be on the hook for the mortgage. That is entirely different.

I know you say this is amicable, but if he loses his job and doesn't make the payments, they will come after you. Don't let this happen. Get to a real estate attorney who YOU are paying and make sure you are covered.

Dawn

Don't move put till something to get you off mortgage has taken place. He needs to actually buy out your half of house. No matter if you don't want any money for your half you still have to sell it to him (usually $1) so he can purchase and refinance.

I had a friend that is Ginger through similar situation and it's been a mess. He moved out, walked away from his equity, and rented apt. Wife lost job so he was then paying both rent and mortgage. He couldn't pay both so had to mo ve back in. Divorce won't be final till house sells, been on market 18 months.

Hire an attorney. My parents(who live in TX) just divorced and my mom wanted the house. She had to pay my dad part of what the home was worth. This all happened along with the divorce itself. I urge you to let an attorney help you through the process.