I have been married for 8 years in the state of Tennessee. My husband adopted my twins then began an affair that lasted half of my marriage as I have to this day been faithful. We had one natural child together. We have been seperated since November 12, 2010. Order of protection was put in place January 18, 2011 so there is no contact at all. I became disabled the year we got married by SSI. I remained in the home he owned 5 yrs prior to our marriage; I have lived here 9 years. I looked up on the inet this am to see what is new. On Friday, 3/11/2011 he filed chapter 13. He signed the land over to me but the mortgage is in his name. I was going to ask my attorney to ask the Judge to allow us the home, but our divorce has not been heard by a Judge yet. How is this going to affect me? I have no debts. I own the land.

you cannot be absolved of a debt, in this case a mortgage, by signing the property over to someone else's name. Even though your husband executed a deed in your name, the simple fact that he has not paid off the mortgage, the mortgage is still attached to the property under his name. At this point once he receives his chapter 13 discharge and the mortgage has been discharged, at that point the land will become legally yours. Chapter 13 bankruptcy is used to repay all or a portion of the debtors debts over a 3 to 5 year period, chapter 7 bankruptcy is used to discharge the debtors debts and liquidate their assets. In a chapter 7 bankruptcy, if your husband were to sign the land over to your name within two years of filing chapter 7 bankruptcy, that transaction would be considered fraudulent and would be undone by the bankruptcy court, meaning that the property would return to your husbands estate and the bankruptcy trustee would liquidated. A divorce court does not have jurisdiction to separate a mortgage from a piece of property, thus a divorce really has no bearing on the paying off of a mortgage. I have responded to your inquiry according to the laws of Massachusetts, where I practice. Laws can vary significantly from state to state and cases tend to be rather fact-specific, so you are best served by consulting with a knowledgeable attorney in weighing your options. Email messages/Online Correspondence are akin to conversations and do not reflect the level of analysis applied to formal legal opinions. Email/Online responses do not form an attorney-client relationship.   Joseph F. Botelho, Esq. BOTELHO & ASSOCIATES, LLCAttorneys At Law www.massachusettslawyeronline.com 126 Shove Street Unit 202 Fall River, MA 02724 Office: 888-269-0688Cell: 508-801-6747FAX: 877-475-8147 Twitter Facebook