Are you and your spouse planning to get a divorce in Wisconsin? Do you own a home together and have a current and active joint mortgage on your house? If so, you will need to navigate your options about how to handle not just the house but also the mortgage. Property division settlements are as much about debts as they are about liabilities and mortgages are often one of a couple’s biggest debts to address when getting divorced.
Bankrate provides interesting insights for people who want to keep their homes but may not be able to successfully refinance a mortgage into just one person’s name. This may happen if you are currently underwater on your mortgage or simply because the credit iof whoever seeks the new mortgage is not sufficient to be approved for a solo loan at this time. If staying in the house is truly what you or your spouse want to do, you may then be looking at maintaining a jointly held mortgage.
If you do this, both you and your former spouse will continue to be responsible for the mortgage debt no matter what is outlined in the terms of your divorce decree. This means that the spouse who leaves the home essentially puts their credit status in the hands of the other person. Any missed payments or foreclosure that may eventually happen would negatively impact both people.
This information is not intended to provide legal advice but is instead meant to give Wisconsin residents an overview of their options and the associated potential pitfalls of each for handling a joint mortgage when getting divorced.
