Q: In 1995, the court dissolved our marriage. The dissolution of marriage stated our house would be sold as soon as possible, and both parties would share in cost to sell and profit equally. In October of that year, my ex-husband signed a quit claim deed removing his name from the mortgage to allow me to refinance. No money was exchanged between us.

After 13 years and $69,000 of repairs and improvements I finally sold the house. My ex husband is now laying claim to half of the amount I would now get on the basis of today’s selling price and the amount owed on the mortgage at the time I refinanced 13 years ago.

Here’s what I don’t understand: Does the quit claim deed trump the dissolution decree? If the dissolution is the winner, then, in my mind, the answer would be half of the difference between the value of the house at the time of the quit claim deed less the amount I spent making repairs and improvements to the home.

I have a lawyer and he is stumped and tells me to settle. We went to mediation and tried to resolve it, but my ex-husband wanted too much money. We’re due in court soon. Who is right?

A: I can see why your divorce attorney might be a bit perplexed. In theory, when you refinanced the home, you should have settled up with your ex-husband. That would have been the easy time to do it.

Divorce settlements can be difficult in the best of times, but determining values and apportioning expenses can be a bit more complicated. Let’s start at the time of the refinancing. If you had settled at that time, your ex-husband would have been entitled to half of the value of the home.

Let’s assume the value of your home when you refinanced of about $80,000. But you would have been entitled to deduct from that amount his half of the costs that he would have incurred had you and he sold the home. These expenses would have included real estate broker fees, title company and settlement attorney expenses along with any other costs customary in your area. If you were to determine that the amount you owed him at that time was almost nothing, let’s say, $2,500, you have a starting point.

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