Division of assets during divorce - House

[alezajex]

What is the name of your state? Virginia

my parents owned a house in 2000. They retired & we refinanced in 2010 along with older brother. We all lived in same house. I got married in 2012 & my older brother moved out & we refinanced home again with my other older brother. In 2020, we refinanced home again since I lost job. Now my older brother has ownership. Because he is on mortgage & pays all bills.

Things are not going well with my wife & she is threatening to file divorce & take ownership in house. She has moved out my house without violence & fights etc. her intention are bad. It’s been 1.5 yrs since out of house

please advice

 

[Taxing Matters]

What is the name of your state? Virginia

my parents owned a house in 2000. They retired & we refinanced in 2010 along with older brother. We all lived in same house. I got married in 2012 & my older brother moved out & we refinanced home again with my other older brother. In 2020, we refinanced home again since I lost job. Now my older brother has ownership. Because he is on mortgage & pays all bills.

Things are not going well with my wife & she is threatening to file divorce & take ownership in house. She has moved out my house without violence & fights etc. her intention are bad. It’s been 1.5 yrs since out of house

please advice

You'll need to see a Virginia divorce attorney to see how you're likely to come out of the divorce. But she won't get any share of the house unless you have some kind of claim to house yourself. She can only get part of what you have.

 

[adjusterjack]

Things are not going well with my wife & she is threatening to file divorce & take ownership in house.

Is your name on the latest deed.

Don't guess.

Look it up in the county records if you don't have a copy.

Then come back and report.

 

[zddoodah]

my parents owned a house in 2000. They retired & we refinanced in 2010 along with older brother.

You've omitted important information here. First you tell us that your parents owned a house (past tense implying that, at some point, they ceased to own the house?). But then you told us that we refinanced, but you didn't tell us who "we" are or what you refinanced or what you refinancing something has to do with your parents owning a house.

We all lived in same house.

"We" being who?

Now my older brother has ownership. Because he is on mortgage & pays all bills.

Huh?

Things are not going well with my wife & she is threatening to file divorce & take ownership in house.

Your wife cannot - by way of a divorce action - take ownership of a house owned by your parents or by your brother.

 

[adjusterjack]

However, if you are one of the owners on the deed, she may have a "marital interest" in part of your share of the equity for which you would have to give her cash or some other item(s) of value as an offset.

 

[alezajex]

You've omitted important information here. First you tell us that your parents owned a house (past tense implying that, at some point, they ceased to own the house?). But then you told us that we refinanced, but you didn't tell us who "we" are or what you refinanced or what you refinancing something has to do with your parents owning a house.




"We" being who?




Huh?




Your wife cannot - by way of a divorce action - take ownership of a house owned by your parents or by your brother.

My parents owned the house. Then we (me & brother) refinanced same home. My parents were removed from mortgage/deed. We live as an me, my brothers and parents lived in same house along with wife who came later to our lives

You'll need to see a Virginia divorce attorney to see how you're likely to come out of the divorce. But she won't get any share of the house unless you have some kind of claim to house yourself. She can only get part of what you have.

House has mortgage. I don’t have any claim other than I owned/mortgage the home from 2010 to 2020

Is your name on the latest deed.

Don't guess.

Look it up in the county records if you don't have a copy.

Then come back and report.

No. It’s under my older brother. Deed says gifted but it wasn’t a gift just refinance

 

[Taxing Matters]

No. It’s under my older brother. Deed says gifted but it wasn’t a gift just refinance

A deed transfers rights in property to someone else. So if you gave your brother a deed transferring all your interest in the home to him, then at least as far as the deed record is concerned, it appear that your brother owns the house and you have no interest in it. That could a real problem if you didn't intend to do that and your brother won't agree to fix it to give a deed back to you.

 

[Just Blue]

In another thread you state that your brother is going to "gift" you a share of the home.

https://forum.freeadvice.com/threads/add-someone-share-to-property.662829/

 

[stealth2]

In another thread you state that your brother is going to "gift" you a share of the home.

https://forum.freeadvice.com/threads/add-someone-share-to-property.662829/

I'm starting to wonder if @alezajex gave up their interest in the property *because* they were planning on divorcing, with the plan for bro to "gift" a portion back after the divorce. Just so the ex doesn't get anything from it.

 

[zddoodah]

My parents owned the house. Then we (me & brother) refinanced same home. My parents were removed from mortgage/deed.

You can't refinance what you don't own, so what I think you mean is that you and your brother (singular) bought the house from your parents.

We live as an me, my brothers and parents lived in same house along with wife who came later to our lives

So...subsequent to your and your brother's (singular) purchase of your parents home, you and your brothers (plural) and parents lived together in the home, and after that you got married.

Going back to your original post:

In 2020, we refinanced home again since I lost job. Now my older brother has ownership. Because he is on mortgage & pays all bills.

So...in 2020, you sold or otherwise transferred your interest in the home to your brother.

It’s under my older brother. Deed says gifted but it wasn’t a gift just refinance

That doesn't make any sense. A deed transfers an interest in property. Apparently, you used a gift deed or something to that effect. "Refinance" relates to a mortgage loan. It sounds like, in 2020, you gifted your interest in the property to one of your brothers and, at the same time, your brother refinanced the mortgage.

In any event, if neither you nor your wife have an ownership interest in the home, her "threat[] to file divorce & take ownership in house" is toothless and ignorant.

 

[LdiJ]

What appears to be going on here is that the home is the residence of all of the parties, (parents, op and op's brother) and that there was a need to refinance a couple of times over the years. However, instead of all of the parties being part of the refinance and therefore remaining on the deed, it appears that each time they refinanced they did so taking everyone off the deed except for whomever had the stronger credit for the refiance.

Perhaps the mortgage lenders required that? Perhaps not, but it was a bit of a strange thing to do, particularly since it was the parent's house to start with and they still live there.

 

[Zigner]

What's really going on is that the OP tried/is trying to shield this asset from possible divorce proceedings.
I'm not commenting on anything except to point it out.

 

[LdiJ]

What's really going on is that the OP tried/is trying to shield this asset from possible divorce proceedings.
I'm not commenting on anything except to point it out.

I would be more likely to agree with you if this last refinance hadn't been the second time that they did it. The first time appears to have happened 12 years ago, and I doubt that "possible divorce proceedings" were something that was being considered that time around. Of course it could have been an attempt to sheild the house from something in the parent's lives at that time...

 

[Zigner]

I would be more likely to agree with you if this last refinance hadn't been the second time that they did it. The first time appears to have happened 12 years ago, and I doubt that "possible divorce proceedings" were something that was being considered that time around. Of course it could have been an attempt to sheild the house from something in the parent's lives at that time...

Ahem...

Things are not going well with my wife & she is threatening to file divorce & take ownership in house. She has moved out my house without violence & fights etc. her intention are bad. It’s been 1.5 yrs since out of house

 

[Bali Hai Again]

What's really going on is that the OP tried/is trying to shield this asset from possible divorce proceedings.
I'm not commenting on anything except to point it out.

The OP gave up ownership in the house (2020) 6 months before the wife left. I assume they were happily married before she left. We will need to wait for the next family huddle in the house of the change titles and see if OP provides more damning info.