Divorce is an ugly word. I have yet to meet someone that came out of divorce unharmed in some way, including me. Lets talk about divorce and your mortgage.
You meet, fall in love and decide to live together. You save and put all your hard earned cash and dreams into your first home.
You are living the life. Showcasing your new home to friends & family. Then for whatever reason your relationship ends. Married by ceremony or not you are bound by a contract of marriage given the new Family Law legislation.
What does this mean?
Family law states you are entitled to 50% of the growth of each others assets from the time of co-habitation to separation. You may have made an agreement otherwise but for an example we assume you didn’t.
Problem. You are no longer together but perhaps have to live together. Or one has to leave the home. But who? How? What about additional living costs.
I want to focus on the mortgage piece. Usually you have both signed on the mortgage and are joint & severally liable to repay the mortgage. Regardless of weather or not you are even living in the property.
There are a zillion combinations of things that can happen next but know that your mortgage will still need to be paid. If you don’t the lender can foreclose on the property and sell it from under you. Telling them you are in the middle of a divorce will not necessarily stop them.
Keep paying the mortgage. The importance of ensuring the mortgage is paid is to protect your credit rating and asset value for all involved. I repeat, protect your credit rating. The last thing you want after a brutal divorce will be 8 years of fixing your credit rating and it limiting your new life.
Every divorce is different. But a mortgage not paid & foreclosed on always results in the same. Protect yourself and learn what happens in the worst-case scenario. It happens but there are professionals that will advise you on what to do. Reach out if you need my professional mortgage advice or a referral to a trusted partner.