Buying Home With Gifted Down Payment From Father - In Case of Divorce?

[olimits7a]

What is the name of your state? New Jersey

Hi,

So I've been down this road before in my first marriage. After we were already married, we purchased a home and my father gifted us money for the down payment. Fast forward 4 years, we ended up getting divorced and my ex-wife got 50% of the proceeds from selling the house. She contributed in paying 50/50 for the monthly house expenses (inc. mortgage) with me for those 4 years but she also made out with 50% of my father's gifted down payment money.

I'm about to propose to my new girlfriend and my father said he would be generous enough to gift us money for the down payment again when my future wife and I decide to purchase a home. I'm not looking to repeat history and I want to protect my father's money and also be fair to my new wife if she'll be contributing 50/50 to the monthly house expenses (inc. mortgage).

Is there a way I can purchase a home and have it setup so if we end up getting divorced that my father could recoup the down payment he provided to me to help purchase the home? And then if there are any profits after this I would split 50/50 with my wife?

Thank you!

 

[FlyingRon]

You and your father need to understand what a marriage is.

Legally, there's no obligation for a spouse to contribute cash into the mortgage or other expenses,. The expenses and assets like the house are part of the marital estate. While NJ doesn't mandate a split down the middle (it is an equitable distribution state), it's quite likely that the gift to you comingled with everything else isn't going to mandate other than a even split.

If your father wants "protection" he should secure his interest in the property either by an ownership interest or setting this up as something other than an outright gift to you. Does your father dislike your spouses so much that he doesn't intend to make them part of the gift? Your father, if he is so concerned, should contact an attorney.

 

[LdiJ]

What is the name of your state? New Jersey

Hi,

So I've been down this road before in my first marriage. After we were already married, we purchased a home and my father gifted us money for the down payment. Fast forward 4 years, we ended up getting divorced and my ex-wife got 50% of the proceeds from selling the house. She contributed in paying 50/50 for the monthly house expenses (inc. mortgage) with me for those 4 years but she also made out with 50% of my father's gifted down payment money.

I'm about to propose to my new girlfriend and my father said he would be generous enough to gift us money for the down payment again when my future wife and I decide to purchase a home. I'm not looking to repeat history and I want to protect my father's money and also be fair to my new wife if she'll be contributing 50/50 to the monthly house expenses (inc. mortgage).

Is there a way I can purchase a home and have it setup so if we end up getting divorced that my father could recoup the down payment he provided to me to help purchase the home? And then if there are any profits after this I would split 50/50 with my wife?

Thank you!

You could include something like that in a prenup. You would both need to have your own lawyers for that.

 

[quincy]

You could include something like that in a prenup. You would both need to have your own lawyers for that.

A mortgage lender will want to know that the money is a gift and not a loan.

 

[Ohiogal]

What is the name of your state? New Jersey

Hi,

So I've been down this road before in my first marriage. After we were already married, we purchased a home and my father gifted us money for the down payment. Fast forward 4 years, we ended up getting divorced and my ex-wife got 50% of the proceeds from selling the house. She contributed in paying 50/50 for the monthly house expenses (inc. mortgage) with me for those 4 years but she also made out with 50% of my father's gifted down payment money.

I'm about to propose to my new girlfriend and my father said he would be generous enough to gift us money for the down payment again when my future wife and I decide to purchase a home. I'm not looking to repeat history and I want to protect my father's money and also be fair to my new wife if she'll be contributing 50/50 to the monthly house expenses (inc. mortgage).

Is there a way I can purchase a home and have it setup so if we end up getting divorced that my father could recoup the down payment he provided to me to help purchase the home? And then if there are any profits after this I would split 50/50 with my wife?

Thank you!

You might not want to get married. You don't sound like you comprehend the whole thing.

 

[Zigner]

What is the name of your state? New Jersey

Hi,

So I've been down this road before in my first marriage. After we were already married, we purchased a home and my father gifted us money for the down payment. Fast forward 4 years, we ended up getting divorced and my ex-wife got 50% of the proceeds from selling the house. She contributed in paying 50/50 for the monthly house expenses (inc. mortgage) with me for those 4 years but she also made out with 50% of my father's gifted down payment money.

Your father gave both of you a gift. It was no longer his money and properly belonged to both of you evenly.

I'm about to propose to my new girlfriend and my father said he would be generous enough to gift us money for the down payment again when my future wife and I decide to purchase a home. I'm not looking to repeat history and I want to protect my father's money and also be fair to my new wife if she'll be contributing 50/50 to the monthly house expenses (inc. mortgage).

Again, if he gives you a GIFT, then it's no longer "his" money.

Is there a way I can purchase a home and have it setup so if we end up getting divorced that my father could recoup the down payment he provided to me to help purchase the home? And then if there are any profits after this I would split 50/50 with my wife?

Thank you!

If your father expects to get the money back at some point, then it's not a gift, rather, it's a loan. That's something that you need to understand and something that the mortgage lender will need to know (as stated above by quincy).

 

[quincy]

Why don’t you rent until you and your future wife can save enough of your own money for a down payment?

 

[Ohiogal]

I want to know if his wife gets laid off or can't pay HALF of any mortgage payment, is he going to evict her? Run a tab that she has to bring current? Divorce her? Or heaven forbid, if he loses his job and he can't pay his half, should he be evicted? Pay interest to his spouse? Be divorced?

 

[quincy]

Some people seem more ready for marriage than others ...

 

[LdiJ]

A mortgage lender will want to know that the money is a gift and not a loan.

I agree, but why would addressing it in a prenup change the nature of the gift?

 

[quincy]

I agree, but why would addressing it in a prenup change the nature of the gift?

It might not but it certainly could make it appear the down payment was a loan and not a gift, if the father is to be repaid out of the house profits ordinarily split between the divorcing spouses.

 

[LdiJ]

It might not but it certainly could make it appear the down payment was a loan and not a gift, if the father is to be repaid.

Yes, but rather than putting in that the father be repaid, it should probably state that any money gifted by dad for a house, remains the separate property of the OP.

 

[quincy]

Yes, but rather than putting in that the father be repaid, it should probably state that any money gifted by dad for a house, remains the separate property of the OP.

That could work. If the fiancée signs the prenup.

 

[quincy]

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