refinancing

marshaalavin · Joined: 21 Sep 2009 Posts: 6 2.87 Dollars($)

my husband and i are getting a divorce and we are trying to make a marital settlement agreement. in order to remove my name in the mortgage and deed, the house has to be refinanced. the divorce lawyer i am working with had indicated a 90 day period for my husband to refinance the house. on the contrary, my husband is asking a 18 months to refinance. is that realistic? what would be a fair amount of time to allow my husband in this case?

gmakerley · Posted: Sat Feb 06, 2010 9:22 am Post subject:

all these things are negotiable. his 18 months may be realistic, and your 90 days may be realistic. in my view, what your best solution may be is to lay all the proverbial cards on the table and work it out to a mutually satisfying solution. let him explain in full why he needs 18 months, and if you can see that rationale, well great...of course, i suspect that whatever is negotiated must be reviewed and okayed by the court, so there's that element to consider as well.

i don't believe that anyone here can truly give you an estimate of a "fair amount of time" to give him to refinance.

marshaalavin · Joined: 21 Sep 2009 Posts: 6 2.87 Dollars($)

Ok lets say I have agreed with the 18 month refinancing period, what's going to happen with the divorce then? Would I have to wait that long to get divorced ?

gmakerley · Posted: Sat Feb 06, 2010 10:01 am Post subject:

i defer to your divorce lawyer.

marshaalavin · Joined: 21 Sep 2009 Posts: 6 2.87 Dollars($)

What happens if my husband fails to refinance within the said period of time? what's going to happen? will bank get the property back from us? i know the market is bad right now and most likely will not get any from the house, if we end in the negative and we are not able to pay for the costs of closing the house, are we going to end up in debt? and what happens if i am not able to pay for it with my income?

gmakerley · Posted: Sat Feb 06, 2010 11:06 am Post subject:

you said you're working with a divorce lawyer...did that lawyer not answer any of these questions, or did you simply not ask? as for your ex-husband not refinancing, that's something that you two and your lawyers and the court would need to iron out. those questions are best asked and answered by the people charged with the responsibility to work them out.

and certainly you have reason to be concerned with the mortgage, the housing market and how you'll pay for the mortgage. presumably, you've already made a decision or two about paying the mortgage and how you'll manage to do it. are you only thinking of these things for the first time now? if you don't have a budget, find someone who can work with you on a budget, and make a determination as to whether or not this overall arrangement is something you can live with.

as for paying the mortgage, if he's charged with refinancing, won't that mean that he's also at least partly responsible for contributing to payments in the interim period? have you discussed this with your lawyer?

raymond · Posted: Sat Feb 06, 2010 4:09 pm Post subject:

>>my husband is asking a 18 months to refinance. is that realistic?

No. It's not fair to you for you to have to wait 18 months. You need to get your name off the note so you can start your new life. It'd also be nice to receive some cash from the equity, for the same reason.

What if your house is worth $100,000.00 today, and 18 months from now it's worth $75,000.00. You'll lose $12,500.00 and that's another reason it's not fair.

Both of you have agreed to end the relationship - and that's not entirely possible until the finances have been resolved, so he needs to refinance as soon as possible, enabling the two of your to move forward with equality.

If he's unable to refinance, the house should be sold.

gmakerley · Posted: Mon Feb 08, 2010 3:28 pm Post subject:

i agree with your assessment, raymond. it is inherently unfair that such a delay take place. unfortunately, i suspect that many of the cases we see referenced in these forums are resulting from the soft market for sales, which naturally brings values down on those who need to refinance. some of these newly-divorced people are simply unable to obtain financing to buy out (or eliminate liability for) their former partners.

i don't know what the solution is to this sort of situation. i know, however, that i've read about more and more couples staying in a home together, even though separated emotionally (at least), just so they can continue to pay a mortgage and maintain a moderately decent credit record, at the least.

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