11-Jul-2008 9:10 AM -- Anonymous
A home was purchased in 2004 by an unmarried couple, both names on the deed and mortgage. The original downpayment on the house was $85,000. The female's mother contributed $60,000 to the downpaymen as she lived with the couple in the home and she also contributed to the monthly mortgage pyaments. The male put $25,000 on the downpayment. The couple split in 2006 and the female and her mother left the home in 12/06 and have not contributed to the mortgage payments since that time. The home is now up for sale and the female is asking for the $60,000 downpayment back. Is there any negotiation for the male who has assumed the last 19 months of the mortgage payments on his own (a financial burden when 3 were supposed to be contrbuting monthly) or is she due the entire downpayment back? If he decided to keep the home (it's been on the market for over a year) and remortgage without her (which she has agreed to) does he owe her the entire original downpayment back. Thank you.
16-Jul-2008 6:44 AM -- L Sigman Esq
When you bought the house the deed was either written as tenants in common or as joint tenants with right or survivorship (allowing the proeprty to pass to the survivor if one person died). In either case, the net effect is that you are each entitled to 1/2 the value of the house (assuming there was no other arrangement, or comething unusual done with the deed).
The amount you each contributed to the downpayment and the monthly mortgage is irrelevant, unless you had an agreement in place to address the situation you now find yourself in now.
If you sell the house, by law she is entitled to half the profit, or conversely, she is responsible for half the debt (if it were to sell for less than is owed). If no equity is realized, she is entitled to nothing.
That said, there is nothing that can stop you, or her, from trying to be compensated by the other for what was contributed towards the purchase of the house and the payment of the mortgage (a basis for this might be enforcement of an oral contract). If you can not arrive at a satisfactory agreement with each other (if you do, get it in writing), you could find yourself in court (or take her to court).
Sigman Law Office PC