Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Wisconsin
Mortage Loan Questions - More INFO
My husband & I divorced 3 yrs ago. I kept the house. The deed to house is in MY name only. We left his name on mortgage loan at bank but I pay it every month ON TIME by myself & the taxes each year too. I have never been late on anything. I am up to date on ALL taxes. Our MSA states that house is mine alone & I am responsible for all payments/taxes regarding it. I have kept my end of the deal. I don't think there is ANYTHING specific in the MSA about him agreeing to leave his name on mortgage. He did, however, sign the loan papers when we financed it originally & he signed over the DEED to me. It was my understanding is that he IS responsible for the LOAN since he agreed to it in the beginning & he can NOT get his name off of it UNLESS I refinance it ON MY OWN.
He has SINCE purchased his OWN home. So he has my mortg and his on his credit score. He is now irritated that having his name on my loan is screwing up his credit rating and keeping him from doing what he wants financially.
I am concerned that he could try to force me to refinance in order to get his name off the loan. I do not want to. I am concerned that my debt to income ratio is too high to get a loan on my own. Is there anything legally that he can do ?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Mortage Loan Questions - More INFO
Sorry, but "I don't think there is ANYTHING specific in the MSA about him agreeing to leave his name on mortgage" is not enough information for any kind of definitive answer. You need to know for CERTAIN and it is probably best to have an attorney review everything. Absent a complete review any response is just speculation.
But, again, so long as you have complied with everything you agreed to do and so long as there is NO contrary provision that requires you to refinance or puts a time limit on it, you are Probably ok. Please not the emphasis on PROBABLY because as I said, you need a complete analysis to be certain.
Most of these kinds of agreements have (should have?) a time limit. Often this is 3 to 5 years on the expectation that the pay down of the mortgage and the appreciation on the home would increase the equity in the property enough so that refinancing would be feasible.
Having said all that, I don't know why your ex's credit score should suffer when you are totally in compliance. But then that is not my field so you would have to seek expert advise from someone in that industry to determine if your ex is really having problems because of the mortgage on YOUR home, or whether the problem (if there really is one at all) is his own credit history and he is just trying to make you the scape goat.
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