Refinancing Mortgages in Divorce

In a divorce, its usually the case that the parties' major asset, or in many circumstances right now, their biggest liability is their home. If one party is keeping the home, the other party may request that the party keeping the home refinance the property and get the mortgage in their own name. More often than not, this is easier said than done. Its a misnomer to state that you want them to refinance, because what you are actually requiring them to do is qualify for a new loan, and with the market the way it is today, this is harder to do and the new loan terms may not be as favorable as the existing mortgage terms. I'm a fan of putting into marital settlement agreements the requirement to refinance a mortgage to get the other party's name off the debt, but unfortunately this is sometimes an impossibility. Therefore, you have to plan for this contingency and realize that your only remedy may be to force a sale, which could take months or even years. When it comes to divorce settlements, you have to make sure what you are asking someone to do is actually possible. If its not possible, you should look for other options to resolve that particular issue.

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