I have a friend who got divorced a couple of years ago. He and his ex wife bought a home while still together. My friend remarried but never took his ex wife off the home loan. Now he is going to divorce his current wife but she does not want to leave the house because she says the house is just as much hers as it is his. Does she have any ground on claiming ownership to the house even though she is not on the loan or anything? Can the ex wife do anything? Is my friend screwed?
God damn what a horrible mess that is. I don't think the new ex wife has any ground to stand on, but I'm sure someone with actual legal experience will chime in shortly.
If they bought the home while married, it's probably community property. She is entitled to a fair distribution of all community property. They are going to have to figure out how to divide the community property for the divorce.
Mexican. The current wife is a chicana. :grin: That's kinda what I was thinking. My friend is a little broke right now so I was offering to purchase the home from him because I am currently looking for a home and he is looking to unload some debt but after all this crap happened it looks like that may not be happening. The house is fairly cheap.
my legal advice would be to tell your "friend" to lawyer up. And why would you even consider coming anywhere near that legal and emotional cluster$#!@ by purchasing the home??
Well, this was before everything blew up. I would have no problem getting the ex wife and my friend to sell me there home (they are both very close friends of mine). And we were talking about this before he decided to tell his current wife about the divorce. I guess we were both thinking that she would simply move out LOL. But unless they can get this resolved in timely manner which doesn't seem likely, I won't be purchasing it.
Your friend needs a divorce lawyer and he needs one now. There are additional facts which may go into what is a just and right division of property. You do not need to walk into the hornet's nest of getting involved in this. It's going to get very, very ugly.
man, i'd just sell the house and split it 3 ways just to free myself of that mess. after lawyer fees, there won't be much left anyways.
Depends on the state, but the answer is the ex-wife probably has no legitimate claim, but length of marriage and her income could certainly come into play (I'm assuming they weren't married long). I'd guess in his old ex-wife is pretty irrelevant, other than that he bought the house with her, and not the new spouse. He probably should have her taken off the mortgage. Typically this is written in the divorce papers.
He never had her taken off the loan after the divorce, not sure why. After talking to him earlier;If he really wants to unload some debt he might be better off letting her keep the house. Not sure how that would work though. From my understanding, the soon to be ex has horrible credit. Does she have to re-apply for the loan? Will he still be responsible for the house while she is still leaving there? The more I think about it, the more I think my friend is an idiot and he might not get out of this clean.
Neither did I when I got divorced a while back. We looked into it, but it would have basically required refinancing the house, so we both stayed on the loan. Which actually ended up working out since we got back together a few years later anyways .
Certainly possible, but carries risk. What if they agree to that, and she doesn't do it, and then doesn't make payments? While technically she was liable, it would probably require suing her to fix, could cause credit issues, and its just a path he may want to avoid as well. Hopefully they can solve these issues through mediation. I'm also not a divorce lawyer, and live in GA. My knowledge is purely via dealing with divorced clients as a CPA. He will not get out of this clean. Divorce is messy business.
From what you have posted, the soon to be ex doesn't even own the house and isn't on the loan. If your friend owned the house before the marriage, it seems as though it is his separate property and isn't subject to division. Of course, there could be more to the story. He should consult a lawyer.
When I got divorced, my ex kept the house. I made sure that the divorce decree ordered her to refinance the house in her sole name within 60 days of the decree. Most divorce decrees do not include that language. You have to specifically as for it. It can save you bad credit and trouble getting a house down the road.
