QUESTION
Is Joint Ownership Of House After Divorce Practical? Common? Under Circumstances Indicated Below?
Asked on Dec 31st, 2020 on Divorce - New Jersey
More details to this question:
Terms of a divorce are being discussed between myself and my wife. It's pretty amicable and we're pretty close to being in agreement on alimony, child support and the separation of assets. The biggest asset is our house. We're both in agreement that we will have Joint ownership of the house. I was somewhat surprised to find that this is somewhat common as it often appeals to couples who want to keep their children in the house until they finish school. It's called, I believe, tenants in common, which means they each own half the house. Here are my questions: 1) Does the mortgage simply get split in half or does the person living in the house pay more? In essence, does the spouse living in the house pay rent? They are getting to live in the house, while the other spouse has to rent or buy elsewhere. So does that spouse have to pay more than half? 2) Is maintenance on house split 50-50? 3) would utilities be the sole responsibility of person living in the house?
2 ANSWERS
Family and Matrimonial Law Attorney serving Parsippany, NJ
Partner at
Weinberger Divorce & Family Law Group, LLC
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Thank you for your question. It’s absolutely terrific that you and your soon to be ex have agreed upon substantially everything. The details about the house should be part and parcel of your MSA (Matrimonial Settlement Agreement). There can be different variations of how to handle this. Typically if one spouse remains in the home until the children complete their schooling or otherwise, that person pays the bills for the house which are contributed to by the non-residing spouse by way of alimony or some other credits upon sale. This should be resolved in the MSA. I hope this was helpful to you.
Answered on Jan 05th, 2021 at 11:02 AM
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Divorce Attorney serving Short Hills, NJ
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In divorce settings ( outside of the courthouse) there are a million alternate ways to resolve support, asset division, and parenting time issues in divorce settings, including settings where one spouse "defers on his equity interest" in the asset for a period of time because of the children. The difficulty is working out the terms to ensure its success. To draft language to address this type of setting should take a family law attorney about 4 - 5 pages since we need to determine if the mortgage payment is going to be paid as part of the alimony and/or child support obligation, whether the mortgage payment is going to be shared equally or in a different ratio; what happens if one party defaults in his / her payments; who pays for routine maintenance and routine repairs or whether they get shared; who pays for extraordinary type repairs or are they shared; what happens if your spouse starts living with a guy in the house, does that trigger a sale or buy out; who gets credit for the mortgage pay down or is that shared; what is the triggering event for the sale or buy out; how do you determine the market value for its sale or buy out; what is the timeframe for a sale or buy out once the triggering event occurs; if there is going to be a buyout, how is the mortigage handled and what is the timeframe for the refience of same to occur; if there are any tax benefits for the mortigage interest and / or the real estate taxes, are they shared equally or in a different ratio; and how do you and she recalucualte each parties share of the expenses in the event of a material change in circumstnace setting. These are simply a few of the questions that a family law attorney would be addressing in drafting a settlement agreement. If these terms are not addressed and not clarified, then you have created a black hole setting or a nightmare for a court if a dispute takes place in the future over any or all of these issues. The fact that you and your spouse are getting along now has nothing to do with the future or how each of you will feel about these issues later. And, if these issues are not clarified now, how can a judge figure out what you and your spouse intended to do with each of these issues.
Answered on Jan 02nd, 2021 at 11:50 AM