real estate taxes during divorce

[wendellbee]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? new york
i finally got divorced after a 6 year battle. in settling the split of the house proceeds, is my ex responsible for half of the real estate taxes i paid for over the last 6 years. she moved out of the house in 2005 . i'm being told she is not because she did not live there, but i do know she's been claiming real estate taxes on her 1040 and she does not own any other property.

 

[justalayman]

what does the decree say to debts such as property taxes?

 

[nextwife]

It always amazes me when people try to correlate their payment responsibilities to the degree to which they use something. By that logic, if I don't live in a property I own, I don't have any responsibility to pay taxes? If I finance a hot tub and stop using it I shouldn't need to make payments anymore? If I stop living in my house and move away, I somehow magically no longer have any responsibility under my mortgage to pay the payments, taxes, insurance?
Many people own property in which they do not live, personally residing in it is irrelevent. I own property I don't live in, but I sure as heck still have tax payment responsibility.


If I stop driving my car, do my car loan payments magically stop needing to be made?


They still have A co-RESPONSIBILITY TO THEIR MUNICIPALITY, THEIR MORTGAGE LENDER, etc. to pay their taxes. Even if the decree creates an agreement between borrowers about one or the other paying taxes, the mortgage agreements would hold coborrowers equally responsible for the tax payments if they were not made.

 

[Bali Hai]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? new york
i finally got divorced after a 6 year battle. in settling the split of the house proceeds, is my ex responsible for half of the real estate taxes i paid for over the last 6 years. she moved out of the house in 2005 . i'm being told she is not because she did not live there, but i do know she's been claiming real estate taxes on her 1040 and she does not own any other property.

It would just be plain ole common sense that if she benefited from claiming the real estate taxes on her 1040, she should be responsible for the amount claimed.

However, keep in mind that common sense is not a legal requirement for judges to follow.

 

[LdiJ]

It always amazes me when people try to correlate their payment responsibilities to the degree to which they use something. By that logic, if I don't live in a property I own, I don't have any responsibility to pay taxes? If I finance a hot tub and stop using it I shouldn't need to make payments anymore? If I stop living in my house and move away, I somehow magically no longer have any responsibility under my mortgage to pay the payments, taxes, insurance?
Many people own property in which they do not live, personally residing in it is irrelevent. I own property I don't live in, but I sure as heck still have tax payment responsibility.


If I stop driving my car, do my car loan payments magically stop needing to be made?


They still have A co-RESPONSIBILITY TO THEIR MUNICIPALITY, THEIR MORTGAGE LENDER, etc. to pay their taxes. Even if the decree creates an agreement between borrowers about one or the other paying taxes, the mortgage agreements would hold coborrowers equally responsible for the tax payments if they were not made.

Nexie, everybody agrees that a divorce does not make those kinds of responsibilities go away as far as lenders and taxing authorities are concerned.

Nevertheless, its common practise that if one of the parties has exclusive use of an asset, that that particular party is responsible for the expenses resulting from that asset.

So, every time you go off on a rant about this subject, you are ranting contrary to common law in divorce situations.

 

[LdiJ]

It would just be plain ole common sense that if she benefited from claiming the real estate taxes on her 1040, she should be responsible for the amount claimed.

However, keep in mind that common sense is not a legal requirement for judges to follow.

Actually Bali, its the reverse. Under the tax code in order to claim property taxes on your tax return you must 1) Be legally liable to pay the taxes and 2) Must have actually paid the taxes.

She meets the first test but not the second, so technically she was unable to claim the taxes on her tax return. The fact that she did is between her and the IRS.

 

[Bali Hai]

Nexie, everybody agrees that a divorce does not make those kinds of responsibilities go away as far as lenders and taxing authorities are concerned.

Nevertheless, its common practise that if one of the parties has exclusive use of an asset, that that particular party is responsible for the expenses resulting from that asset.

So, every time you go off on a rant about this subject, you are ranting contrary to common law in divorce situations.

It's also common practice in many cases to force a homeless person to pay for the other parties exclusive use of an asset. Just because it's common practice doesn't make it right, fair or just.

 

[LdiJ]

It's also common practice in many cases to force a homeless person to pay for the other parties exclusive use of an asset. Just because it's common practice doesn't make it right, fair or just.

That is actually not common practise Bali. That is really fairly rare.