Foreward Fortunately, not all marriages end in divorce...unfortunately, some do! When the divorcing couple owns Real Estate, there are potential issues that can arise, including (but certainly not limited to): • Incorrectly assuming that removing one spouse from "title" also automatically removes them from any obligation on the mortgage loan secured by that property. • Incorrectly assuming that the "House Spouse" (the one who remains in the marital property) is able to refinance the joint mortgage loan solely in his/her name. • Carelessly assuming that the property has a clear and unclouded title history. • Carelessly assuming that an online value estimate (or in some cases "zestimate") is accurate when agreeing to settlement terms. • Failing to freeze the ability to draw on a Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) attached to the property when finalizing settlement terms (allowing the potential for an unethical spouse to subsequently draw up the balance and erode the equity). • Failing to ascertain if any undisclosed judgments and/or liens are about to be filed to one/both of the divorcing Spouses The above examples are merely a drop in the bucket on what can go wrong when Divorcing Homeowners make binding legal decisions when all the facts are not known beforehand. Among the consequences for making these mistakes include (but are not limited to):
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