Legal Question in Family Law in Maryland

Re: Voluntary Legal Separation

It appears that you would be well served by acquiring the assistance of an attorney.

Any marital assets (and debts) remain within the marital estate and are subject to division upon marriage. If you buy a condo and the funds are not directly traceable to non-marital assets then you stand to loose your interest in the real property. Also, the condo could be subject to a forced sale. There are methods to overcome these issues but they must be legally enforceable.

If he does not agreed to separate you would be applying the two-year involuntary ground rather than the one-year voluntary ground (assuming no other ground for divorce exists.)

Re: Voluntary Legal Separation

When you apply for financing on the condo, the mortgage on your marital home will show up on your credit report as your obligation, so that will have an adverse impact on your ability to qualify for the financing. The condo lender doesn't care whether it's you or your husband who's actually making the mortgage payments. Depending on your income and other debts, you still might be able to qualify, but you should first check with a mortgage broker to see if you can prequalify for the condo loan under the circumstances.

If you don't need the equity from the marital home to cover the condo down payment, and if your husband can qualify for a mortgage in his own name just for the current balance, which presumably wouldn't increase his payments, you could deed the house over to him and offer to take back a second mortgage payable in a relatively short period for the value of your share of the equity. Obviously there is some risk here, and you would be giving up any claim to equity growth from date of separation to date of divorce, but chances are you wouldn't get that in a property division anyway. This would get your name off the mortgage and better enable you to get financing. Maybe under these circumstances he would agree to sign separation papers which would better enable you to qualify for a divorce after 1 year of separation.

Robert Sher