LOCATION: Walterboro, SC
I 34M and her 27f are ending our engagement. She paid 2500 as a gift towards our down payment and I’ve paid about 12k in down payment and repairs. She’s on the deed but not the title. What are the possible options. She only makes 1k per month and I currently pay all bills.
Ideally I’d like to stay in the house as she cannot afford it and her to move out.
Please help
Comments
If she isn’t on the note or mortgage then a simple quit claim deed from her to you will be all you need. ask her how much she wants and if you can agree on her number just get a real estate attorney to draft a deed and you can go in the office and pay her and have her sign.
How was the $2500 a gift if she’s on the deed?
Based on the current fair market value of the house and the current loan principal, how much equity is there?
Legally, she owns have the house, and is entitled to
(Fair Market Value – Unpaid Principal) / 2
for you to buy her out of her house.
So, see what she wants. If she wants more than the above, you’ll have to sort that out, in court if you need to. If she wants that or less, write her a check and have a lawyer do a deed transfer from you and her to just you.
If her name is on the deed, she has an ownership interest in the house regardless of who is on the mortgage.
How exactly is the deed worded?
> Ideally I’d like to stay in the house as she cannot afford it and her to move out.
Can you afford to buy her out?
Call an Attorney,
I owned two properties with my ex. She did put a small gift deposit $1,000-$2,000. Just like your case. She Never paid any money towards the mortgage & when we split I had to sue her to force name off the mortgage which required me buying her out of both properties. Since we weren’t married the court looked at it like business agreement. Since nothing was in writing everything is assumed 50/50 ownership. We had properties in two different states. So yup I had two different attorneys.
Thankfully on one I was upside down (so I consumed her negative equity) then paid her half of the estimated projected profit after realtor expenses on the other one. We filed two quit claim deeds with a notary. Filed them both in the courthouse via each attorney within the same week and asked for the print out of the change the following week. I never felt so free.
Her name still exist on one of the mortgages ; the attorney and I left it on her to remove her name since Loan assumptions/ transfers in my case was requiring closing cost to be done and I refused to pay anymore money.
She came back at me like 2 years later with an attorney and at that moment I was thankful I hired one from Day one. The attorneys reached back out to hers and never heard anything of it since.
Call an attorney
If you can’t afford one. Put it on. CC you’ll thank me later.
Best of Luck. I learned a lot in this whole process and I know you will too.
NAL. Sorry about your luck. If the fiance did not sign the promissory note to pay back the loan then she is not obligated to do so.
The fact she is on the deed and doesn’t show up on the title just means it’s an unclean title and is going to make it far more difficult to sell. If her name is on the deed she has a legal right not to sign over the deed, once again making it difficult to sell.
This is where it gets murky and you should 100% get a lawyer. A name on the deed doesn’t necessarily mean a court will agree they HAVE to live there, it just means they have legal right to the transfer of the house and proceeds from selling it. A court could order you both sell it or she removes her name from the deed.