divorce attorney: My Ex-wife Decided to Short Sell Her House and I am Still on the Mortgage - 06/03/11 10:54 AM
Spouses incur so many risks when they decide NOT to get rid of the marital home and the marital mortgage debt.
If the house is “underwater” or has an “upside down mortgage”, they can short sale the house before or after the divorce is final. Waiting to sell after the divorce could spell disaster.
Just look at these questions asked by a concerned ex-husband who has lost control
My ex-wife decided to short sell the house after the divorce. I am still on the original mortgage. The court had awarded her this home a few years ago when we divorced. … (57 comments)

divorce attorney: Divorce - A Quitclaim Deed Does Not Release You From Obligation On The Loan - 05/24/11 03:59 PM
It's a common misconception that if "I give her/him the house" you are done with the responsibility for the loan.
If you are signed on the loan, the lender will hold you responsible for the payments whether you have an ownership interest or not. "Giving the house" is often referred to as a "quitclaim". In a quitclaim deed, you are resigning from ownership of the house, but it doesn't take you off the loan. It is sometimes erroneously called a quickclaim deed.
The lender wants to keep everyone on the hook for the loan payments
The lender got you and your … (7 comments)

divorce attorney: If Arnold Schwarzenegger Divorces He Will Not Need to Short Sell His House - 05/22/11 09:56 AM
Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver from Kennedy fame may divorce. If they divide the marital homes they will not have a problem paying the mortgages, if they have any.
Most Americans, however, are not in that position. Once the reality of divorce sets in, the question of selling or keeping the marital home often becomes a highly contested issue. In today's housing crisis, the liquidation of the house is usually more a division of excess debt rather than a division of excess profit.
Caution! Marital Mortgage Debt!
Unless you have Schwarzenegger / Shriver / Kennedy resources, you should be very careful … (3 comments)

divorce attorney: Divorce With One Spouse NOT on the Loan - How Does Short Sale Or Foreclosure Impact Credit? - 05/21/11 04:18 AM
Many times one of the divorcing spouses is NOT obligated or liable for the loan and therefore their credit may not be impacted. I'm referencing obligation to the lender, not obligation under the divorce agreement. Sometimes one of the spouses did not have had good enough credit while the other spouse had strong enough income and credit to qualify for the loan by himself or herself. Other cases could include a house and mortgage that was already in a spouse's name prior to the marriage. This is vital to know in a short sale situation.
How does a foreclosure or short … (2 comments)

divorce attorney: Do It Yourself Divorce and Uncontested Divorce – But what about the upside down house debt? - 05/19/11 12:25 AM
Divorced or divorcing spouses often call me to help them sell their house. Sometimes they say they have a very simple divorce. No kids, no complicated assets to divide up. Just a mutually agreed upon decision to part ways.
“There is that house we need to sell. But, there’s no equity to split, so it’s not a problem. We owe more than it’s worth.”
I’ll ask, “What does your divorce attorney say about that?”
“We’re not wasting money on lawyers. We went to the court house and got a do-it-yourself divorce packet, filled it out ourselves and filed,” comes the reply. … (3 comments)

divorce attorney: Divorce, Foreclosure and Short Sales In Louisville, KY - Who To Ask? - 05/14/11 01:07 PM
Divorcing and owe too much on your house? Mortgage payments too high to handle?
Who to ask for advice?
Typically the first people turned to are relatives, marriage counselors, divorce lawyers, sometimes bankruptcy attorneys. Maybe the Realtor who helped you buy the house years ago will be called.
A Realtor who specializes in preforeclosure short sales should be on your team.
I am a Real Estate Broker right here in Louisville, specializing in helping sellers avoid foreclosure by negotiating with their lender to let the house sell for amount short of the payoff. This is called a short sale.
Short sales … (2 comments)

divorce attorney: In a Divorce Can I Short Sale My House To My Spouse? - 05/09/11 11:09 PM
In a divorce situation there are often contradictory needs that cannot be fulfilled at the same time.
One spouse wants to remain in the house, especially to preserve the children’s habitual residence. However, the new financial situation may render the monthly mortgage payment unaffordable and there may be more owed than the house is worth.
A short sale is viable way to sell the house and get rid of the mortgage. The lender lets the house sell for market value, even if it generates an amount SHORT of the payoff.
This sometimes leads to the question:
Can one spouse short sale … (2 comments)

divorce attorney: Foreclosure and Divorce in Louisville – Beware When One Spouse Gets The House and The Other Gets The Mortgage - 09/10/10 02:56 AM
When the divorce agreement awards the house to one spouse and the mortgage obligation to another, this could spell great peril. The spouse in the house often doesn’t know if the "mortgage spouse" stopped making the payments.
The billing address usually gets changed to the mortgage spouse's new address. The spouse in the house does not get any late notices about non-payments until it’s too late.
Even though house spouse can claim that the mortgage spouse is in contempt of the agreement, the damage is already done. The back payments and legal fees often make it too hard to catch up … (2 comments)

divorce attorney: Louisville Seller Loses House To Foreclosure Without Trying To Short Sell It First. Why? - 09/08/10 02:33 PM
“Frozen.”
“Paralyzed.”
“I was a deer in the headlights.”
“There isn’t sufficient information readily available.”
These were the sad statements the owner made. A woman called me a week AFTER her house was lost at foreclosure auction to ask me what her options are. I asked her why she didn’t call me prior to the auction. She hadn’t even sought out a Realtor prior to the auction.
She continued; “Spoke to five people got five different answers which contributed to my paralysis.”
She had spoken to:
Her divorce attorney The Louisville Jefferson County Clerk because their office sends out the notices … (2 comments)