Dumping Your Marital Mortgage Loan Is Harder Than It Sounds
According to Florida’s equitable distribution laws, the court divides all of the couple’s marital assets and marital debts when the couple gets a divorce. A mortgage loan with both spouses listed as borrowers definitely qualifies as a marital debt. Unfortunately, getting the lenders to divide your debts after a divorce is not simple. Rarely does a lender simply split a loan in two, using the court order of dissolution of marriage as a guide for what percentage of the remaining balance to assign to each spouse. If the loan is in one spouse’s name only, the other spouse may have to pay the listed borrower a certain amount of money, as a lump sum or in installments, to cover their responsibility for the loan. In the case of a secured loan, such as a home mortgage or a car loan, the best option is to refinance the loan or to sell the property that is securing the loan. Selling a house is never easy, and refinancing a home mortgage is also a challenge, especially when there is still a large remaining balance to be paid. If you are struggling to complete the actions the court, in your divorce judgment, ordered you to complete in order to divide your marital debts, contact a Palm Beach County divorce lawyer.
Ex-Wife Tries to Hold Ex-Husband in Contempt of Court Even Though He Stayed Current With Mortgage Payments
Alpha and Veron divided their time between New York and Florida during their marriage. Although a court in New York issued the judgment dissolving their marriage, one of its terms was that, pursuant to the parties’ marital settlement agreement, Alpha was to remove Veron’s responsibility for the mortgage on the house in Florida the couple owned within six months of the issuance of the divorce judgment. He was to stay current on mortgage payments until a sale of the property or a refinance of the mortgage (with Alpha as the sole borrower on the new loan) went through. Veron had the right to file a motion for contempt if Alpha defaulted on the mortgage while both parties were still listed as borrowers
After the divorce, Alpha stayed current on the mortgage payments and applied for refinance several times, but by the end of six months, he still had not been able to refinance the mortgage loan, so Veron was still listed as a joint borrower. She filed a motion to hold Alpha in contempt, and Alpha filed an appeal. The appeals court determined that Veron did not have the right to hold Alpha in contempt, since he had not defaulted on the payments and was still actively seeking to refinance the loan and remove her name as a borrower.
Contact Us Today for Help
Owing a lot of money on a home mortgage is stressful enough even when you and your spouse are on good terms, but a Boca Raton divorce lawyer can help you disentangle yourself from marital mortgage debt. Contact Schwartz | White for help today.
Resource:
scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=5386989144446057403&q=divorce+loan&hl=en&as_sdt=4,10&as_ylo=2011&as_yhi=2021
