divorce agreement question

[SMarie]

The divorce agreement states: "Husband agrees to pay to Wife $1,752.83 bi-weekly, which is the present mortgage obligation owing on the family residence, until the mortgage obligation has been paid in full." Since the divorce agreement was signed, the taxes and insurance on the house have increased, thus making the house payment rise. Since this bi-weekly payment was intended to pay the house payment, can I insist that my ex-husband pay the actual amount of the house payment and not just $1,752.83 every two weeks?

 

[Grandma B]

To be precise, an increase in taxes and/or insurance does not affect the amount of the "mortgage obligation." The true mortgage obligation would consist of the principal plus interest until it is paid in full.

Taxes and insurance are simply most often collected as part of the mortgage payment and held in escrow accounts to pay those bills. That way the mortgage brokers don't get gray hair worrying whether the mortgagee is going to lose the property in a tax sale or have a disaster occur without proper insurance coverage.

I will relent enough to say that if a judge ruled that he be required to pay an amount that included the taxes and insurance, he probably intended for him to pay those also. Foresight would have included language covering any increases in those items. Funny though, when the mortgage obligation ends, there will still be taxes and insurance to be paid. Any language on that?