Buying a House With Divorce Pending
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Buying a House With Divorce Pending
I have a Florida divorce pending. I am also deep in the process of buying a new home. Now, my lender (and several others) are telling me that my soon-to-be-ex’s name must be on the title of my new home. I am not confident in my divorce attorney anymore since she had told me months ago to go ahead and buy without worry and just yesterday reassured me he does not not need to be on the title. Today, my mortgage broker tells me that all of the lenders are saying it is Florida law that both names must be on the title. My souse is uncooperative and I don’t want to risk needing his cooperation.
Asked on June 16, 2009 under Family Law, Florida
Answers:
B. B., Member, New Jersey Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 15 years ago | Contributor
You need to toss this one a bit more directly onto your divorce lawyer's desk, and ask her (politely, of course!) to back up what she told you, and call the mortgage broker to set them straight. It may be that you haven't been quite clear enough in getting the message through to the mortgage people, that you actually have a pending divorce case, because in most states, the filing of a divorce complaint cuts off a spouse's rights in what the other spouse buys after that point.
Problems can come up, though, in some ways. One of those is if the divorce case is dismissed (you reconcile). Or, if the divorce court decides that the money you put into the new house was money that your husband has some interest in, and uses that to drag the house back into the "pot."
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