Legal Question in Family Law in Minnesota
my son is divorcing.married almost 4 yrs.her name is not on house title. he had a new house built 3 yrs. before he started dating her. value is $174,ooo. i had asked you about this & you emailed stating that she had no interest in house because he owned it way before they were married.. he has a lawyer now & is told he has to pay her $21,ooo. based on the value.she has never helped pay the mortgage, only a few other househlod bills. this just don't seem fair! what is your opinion? should he ask another lawyer?
1 Answer from Attorneys
It makes no difference how the home is titled. Any equity or value that is accrued during the marriage is presumed marital and is divisible in a divorce. If he owned the home before marriage, there is formula called the Schmitz formula, for determine the marital versus non-marital interest.
Generally, you would take the value of the home on the date of marriage and then determine the amount of any outstanding encumbrances (the mortgage). Subtracting the mortgage owed from the value gives you the equity. You then take that equity amount as the numerator and the value as the denoinator to determine the percentage of non-marital interest. That same percentage is then applied to current value to determine non-marital interest.
For Minnesota divorce questions visit divorceprofessionals.com or call 612.240.8005.
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