Legal Question in Family Law in Michigan

Must drop price of marital home?

In a divorce document, both parties agreed to these terms: the marital home would be put up for sale, and the ex-wife would continue to live there with the child while continuing to make payments on the home. Any property taxes would be split evenly between the parties, but the ex-husband's portion would come out of the equity after the house was sold. Well, the bottom dropped out of the real estate market, so the house has been up for sale (with 2 different realtors) for about a year, the price of the house has been dropped numerous times, and now the current realtor thinks the price needs to be dropped another $20,000 to be at fair market value. The problem is, this is significantly less than the purchase price of the house. The ex-wife now is taking the ex-husband to court to ''force'' him to drop the price; the ex-husband wants to sit on the house and see if the market gets better, since selling at that price would mean getting no equity out of the sale. The kicker is that the interest payments on the house will go up 2 % in June 2007, and the ex-wife says she can't afford that (nor can her ex). Does a judge or court referee have the right to order the ex-husband to drop the listing price of the house? Thanks for any help


Asked on 11/17/06, 7:35 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
William Stern William Stern, P.C.

Re: Must drop price of marital home?

If the judge feels the husband is being unreasonable, the judge has the authority to issue appropriate orders to get the house sold, even if it means appointment of a receiver. William S. Stern

Read more
Answered on 11/22/06, 6:46 am


Related Questions & Answers

More Family Law, Divorce, Child Custody and Adoption questions and answers in Michigan