Once I file for divorce, can my wife keep my name on the mortgage until she decides to sell the house or will she have to take action once the divorce is final?
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Once I file for divorce, can my wife keep my name on the mortgage until she decides to sell the house or will she have to take action once the divorce is final?
I will soon be separated from my wife for almost a year. We were in the process of building a house when we separated in which she lives in. Per the separation agreement, which we both signed, once the divorce is final she has 1 year to do something with the house but she has informed me that she plans on living in the house until my youngest child is 18. I just want to have my name removed from the mortgage.
Asked on December 13, 2015 under Family Law, Texas
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 8 years ago | Contributor
You can't get off the mortgage unless not just your wife but the bank, too, agrees to take you off--and they won't: why would they, when letting you out of the mortgage hurts them, by reducing the number of people responsible to pay it? You need the divorce settlement to give her a firm date by which she *must* sell (and which also states that mortgage is paid first from the proceeds, before anyone else gets anything); then if she does not do that, you could sue to enforce the settlment and compel her to do so.
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