Wednesday, February 2, 2011

SHOULD I LET MY HUSBAND KEEP THE HOUSE?

I frequently receive questions from people regarding their family law issues. The following is a question which the inquirer agreed may be publicly revealed, and my answer to the question:

QUESTION: What will my rights to my house be after I get a divorce? I am getting a divorce. The house is under my name. We have a 22 year-old living with us who may be eligible for grants to move in university housing or may choose to live with me. My husband has bad credit and would like to stay in the house and pay mortgage, get married immediately and bring in his wife to this house. I do not trust him to be able to pay the mortgage in the future if the wife decides to move elsewhere, or if I decide to sell the house in a year or two whether I can have them vacate the house. If we sell the house, there will be little or zero profit left with our second loans and the market as it is.

ANSWER: Keeping the house and allowing your husband to stay in the house would be problematic and ill-advised, under the circumstances you describe.

Since the house and the loans are in your name only, you could end up the victim of a foreclosure and a deficiency judgment on at least the loan secured by second trust deed if your husband fails to keep the payments current on both loans, causing you to default on your loans. If the loan secured by first trust deed had been refinanced, you could end up the victim of a deficiency judgment on the refinance loan as well.

Your credit would be damaged if your husband failed to keep the payments currrent on both loans, and your credit would be destroyed if a foreclosure occurred.

You could be forced to make payments on the loans on the house in which your then ex-husband (and his new wife) live in order to protect your credit if your then ex-husband failed to keep the payments current.

You would be forced to spend money on attorney's fees in post-divorce proceedings to deal with the house if your then ex-husband failed to keep the payments current.

If your husband has bad credit, he won't be able to refinance the loans on the house to remove you as the obligor on those loans.

Unless your husband is able to induce a friend or relative to become a co-borrower on a loan to pay off the loans under your name, and the loan in your name is paid off in full, the best thing to do under the circumstances would be to sell the house, and if your husband refuses, to ask the Court for an order to sell the house, either before trial, or at trial.

This educational blog is brought to you by DONALD F. CONVISER, a Certified Family Law Specalist, owner of Warner Center Law Offices in Woodland Hills in the San Fernando Valley, an effective and aggressive Los Angeles Family Lawyer and Divorce Attorney serving clients in the courts of Los Angeles and Ventura County for over 35 years, offering a free confidential consultation regarding your divorce or family law issues, at 818/880-8990, responding to questions posed to him about Divorce and Family Law.

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