My ex and I have been divorced for 3 years. I took over the payments on the house when she left (suddenly). Since I was keeping the house for stability for our children, she agreed to give me some money each month to help pay the mortgage. This was a verbal agreement between us, and not listed in our divorce papers.
She has since quit sending these payments, and things have gotten tight for me financially. The deed is only in my name, but she is still listed on the mortgage. Does she have any legal obligation to make the payments?
If this isn’t one of those lawyer questions, I don’t know what is. I feel for you though and I am not being flip at all. I am in a similar situation myself but legal obligations like that require consultation of an attorney that specializes in that area of law. You could potentially sue her (or anyone else for that matter) but it depends on the state you are in and the specifics involved. Only the sharks can help you with that.
Yeah, you really need lawyers involved with this. There are credit ratings and sale of the house and agreements to work out - it sounds like it could get pretty complicated.
IANAL… this could get complicated, like some people say… but my understanding that if the mortgage goes unpaid, then it is a collectible debt on all parties who have signed to it. The bank wouldn’t try to divvy up a fair payment, they would just go after both of you until the account is balanced or you declare bankruptcy. As far as working out what each party’s fair share of the debt and equity is, you would need to retain some legal counsel to protect your interests. It’s quite complicated and I’m probably wrong, so get thee to a lawyer as everyone else has suggested.