Help with a Foreclosure

[Anonymous]

Hello everyone,

Long time lurker, first time poster.

My fiancee was married to someone else several years ago. They had a house together that was current when she left.

About a year after she left, she went to purchase a car and was told that her score was low because there were several missed payments on the mortgage on her CR.

She called her ex and demanded to know what the situation was. She told him to remove her from the account and he said that he would have his dad cosign on the loan.

About 6 months later, she tries to purchase a car again only to find out that the house was foreclosed with her still on the account.

Fast-forward a few years and the divorce papers are starting to make their rounds again (he refused to sign in 2008). The divorce papers now stipulate that my fiancee pay half of the remainder of the foreclosed mortgage.

What are her options? Bankruptcy? Can she take him to court?

[Anonymous]

They entered in the purchase agreement of the home together as co-signers. Therefore, she agreed to make payments on the house and to be just as responsible as her ex husband on the note of the house. If they were married when they purchased, the law sees this as property of the marriage, therefore they are each 50% responsible for the house. If they were to have sold it for a profit because of the divorce, they would've split whatever profit 50/50.

I am not familiar with bankruptcy laws, and I dont know if it would help a house that has already gone through the foreclosure process. I know it can help sometimes when you can no longer make payments on a house.

Sorry to hear you fiance finds herself in that situation. When I got divorced 7+ years ago, I got stuck with over 40K worth of credit card debt that my ex husband and I racked up together because he refused to pay any of it, and I refused to let my credit go in the toilet.

[Anonymous]

No, she failed to fullfil a legal obligation and is repsonsible. IN a situation like that, it was her responsibility to make sure that things were taken care of. For him to take her name off the home would have required her signature at some point and she should have been aware of that having bought a home in the first place. Same goes for the missed payments.  If my name is on an account you can bet I am going to be checking in at least every couple months if not monthly to make sure it is being paid .

I am not trying to be harsh, just realistic.

BK may help but if the house is already foreclosed on, and unless there was a cash out type loan against, the lender may not have any recourse.  Have her check local laws.  I know most places stopped allowing post foreclosure recourse for awhile.

[Anonymous]

Interesting thing...the house may have been purchased prior to them getting married. Does that make a difference?

Things are getting strange here too. Her ex is saying that no proceeds from the sale of the house went against the mortgage. This is completely untrue, right? In a foreclosure, whatever the bank sells the house for goes against the outstanding loan, right?

He's also asking for her to pay the money (~15K) to him direct because his wages are being garnished. Something's fishy here....

[Anonymous]

Yep. Fishy. Foreclosure gets paid against the outstanding balance.

[Anonymous]

She's contacting Bank of America right now for more information. They had the loan through Countrywide, and they got purchased by BofA right?

[eparker]

Word to the wise...if the court didnt order her to pay him anything, DON"T give him anything.  Whatever you guys do, do it through the court.  If there is something they were joint on she may have to bite the bullet and pay it if she can.  The companies dont care about the divorce or what the court ordered, if they are both on the loan they are both obligated.  It's rough I know, I have been through it.  Good luck. 

[Anonymous]

We pulled her credit. The foreclosure is on there, but not the collection activity. If the CA isn't going after her, will she still be obligated?

[Anonymous]

I am really sorry for her situation. Having gone through a divorce myself, I can tell you: if her name was on the loan, she is on the hook for it. As someone previously posted, if she was to be relieved of the loan responsibility or the loan was to be refinanced without her name on it, she would have signed paperwork to that regard. Under the law, she is as responsible for the loan as the person that was living in the house.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hello everyone,

Long time lurker, first time poster.

My fiancee was married to someone else several years ago. They had a house together that was current when she left.

About a year after she left, she went to purchase a car and was told that her score was low because there were several missed payments on the mortgage on her CR.

She called her ex and demanded to know what the situation was. She told him to remove her from the account and he said that he would have his dad cosign on the loan.

About 6 months later, she tries to purchase a car again only to find out that the house was foreclosed with her still on the account.

Fast-forward a few years and the divorce papers are starting to make their rounds again (he refused to sign in 2008). The divorce papers now stipulate that my fiancee pay half of the remainder of the foreclosed mortgage.

What are her options? Bankruptcy? Can she take him to court?

---

If her name is on the promissory note, she is liable.  Pre-existing creditors are virtually never effected by the terms of any divorce decrees.  If they want to come after her on the debt, they can.

Where she may have recourse is if the terms of her divorce decree assign the debt to the ex-spouse.  If that is the case, she may be able to take legal action against him directly.  Whether or not that would do her any good is another matter.