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Is selling the house the only way out?

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dawnout

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Ohio!

I live in Ohio with my husband and 17 year old daughter. In 4 months she will leave for college (but will not be 18 until a little over 6 months from now). We have one other child who will be 19 this summer, and is currently in college. Due to my husband's drug and alcohol abuse over the course of several years, our relationship is non-existent. My main goal is to separate from him for good. The trouble is that the housing market is terrible, and financially, I feel as though I'm trapped in this house with him unless we could sell the house. Certain necessary repairs and the difficulty of selling houses in this market make this highly unlikely.

Is there another way? For instance, is it unheard of for a divorce agreement to stipulate that one spouse lives elsewhere but continues to pay half the motgage until the house is sold? (Many years ago, my parents did this, but I think it was during a legal separation and while I was a minor) And once sold, that person still gets half of the sales price even if it's well after the divorce is final. Would anyone ever agree to something like that? I don't feel like I could actually ask for the house in a divorce settlement. It's half his, as well as mine.

Financially, I cannot afford to keep up this house AND pay for another place to live. And I certainly don't want to be foreclosed on just to get out from under it. I can just about afford to keep the house even if I had to make 100% of the payments by myself. But how do I go about doing that? Like I said, it's half his house, too. Am I able to just kick him out?

There are other considerations as well. Debt in both our names that the creditors would probably just come after me for since they wouldn't care that he was also responsible. They just try to collect from whomever they can, and I can easily see him disappearing and leaving me holding the bag, so to speak.
 


nextwife

Senior Member
IT may not be financially viable to pay half the mortgage AND the cost of housing elsewhere, and, possibly, child support.

Having different chromosomes does not give you the right to simply kick out a co-owner. A court order is needed.

What sort of income do you each have? Have you calculated property taxes, casualty insurance, possible water and sewer charges that can accrue to the tax bill and minimum maintenance and divided that in half??

Truthfully, if you and he are barely maintaining the property while sharing the cost of only one household, I fail to see how you believe it is financially viable to ADD the expense of a second household and be able to cover it on the available incomes. YOu should really both dispose of the property, then each get seperate alternate housing. That is more fiscally viable.

Can you afford it if you refinanced him off the loan and bought out his half?
 
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OHRoadwarrior

Senior Member
This is the "for worse" part you signed up for. Until you can financially afford to leave, you either walk away with nothing or continue as things are.
 

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