Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Virginia
Jointly owned Home
My ex-girlfriend and I currently own a house together which we are both residing in at this time with our daughter. She doesn't contribute toward the bills or the mortgage and hasn't for the four years we've lived there. I would like to buy her out and she would like to buy me out also, but she keeps procrastinating on this issue. I am at the point where I would just like to walk away from everything. Is there any way I can handle this or make her move out of the house without obtaining a lawyer? Can I get any monies back from her that I have spent on the mortgage and utility bills?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Jointly owned Home
No, you cannot force your girlfriend from your home since she also, like you, is an owner of record and has every much right, legally speaking, to be there as you do.
Your remedy, much as you apparently are disinclined to do so, is to hire an attorney to file a partition suit in the circuit court where the property is located and which may result in the property being sold and the sale proceeds divided between you and your girlfriend. This would also afford you the opportunity to make a claim for the disproportionate share of the expenses which you claim to have shouldered since your move-in of some four years ago.