Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Maryland
My daughter and her boyfriend purhased a house together four years ago. She has been paying the mortgage, he has been paying for everything else. The mortgage is in his name, the deed is in both of their names. They are now calling it quits and he wants her to sign over the house to him and he "will let her keep the car that he bought her" (19,000 then, kelly blue book value now, 6,500). My daughter is concerned that if she would go to court over the house she would wind up losing everything since she has only made the mortgage payments and contributed nothing else financially toward the home or car. Is she correct?
1 Answer from Attorneys
An important piece of information not included in your question is what if any equity is in the house at this time? Given the state of the real estate market now compared to 4 years ago, and the likelihood that they financed a large part of the purchase price, the answer may well be "none". They would need to get a market analysis from a realtor familiar with the market in that area to see what the property would sell for now, and compare that to the balance still owed on the mortgage, which is probably not all that much less than the original amount borrowed. With respect to the car, if the boyfriend bought it as a gift to your daughter and paid cash, and it's titled in her name only, it's hers anyway and he has no claim to any part of it. If he's making payments on the car, she will get stuck with them after the break up and risk losing the car to repossession if she doesn't make them. In summary, if the house has little or no equity, her best approach is to get him to pay off any balance on the car note in exchange for her deeding over her interest in the house. If the car is paid off, and there is some equity in the house, she should get at least part of the equity in the form of payment from him because her making of the mortgage payments was a significant contribution.