As your divorce has gotten underway, you have undoubtedly already made countless decisions. Now, the time has come to negotiate on how to divide the marital property. You may not have many major items that you want to hold on to, but you do have a focus on keeping the house.
The family home can often become a point of contention during divorce, and if you and your ex both want to keep the property, it can take some serious negotiating in order to reach a resolution. If you truly want to keep the home and believe that you can obtain that property during division proceedings, you will want to ensure that it will not cause you any major financial setbacks in the future.
Taking on a mortgage
Right now, your mortgage payments are manageable, but before you believe that the same manageability will remain after your divorce, you may want to remember that you will likely handle those payments on your own as opposed to having your spouse's help. Therefore, you may want to access your finances to ensure that taking on a mortgage as a single person will not put you in dire financial straits.
If you have fully considered the possibilities, you may want to look into what type of mortgage arrangement may work for your situation. Some common options for handling a mortgage after divorce include the following:
- Assuming the current mortgage: This option would allow you to take on the mortgage currently applied to the house while keeping the same terms. However, not all lenders allow for loan assumption so you may want to look into this option before considering it a viable route to take.
- Refinancing: Refinancing a mortgage is a common choice individuals make when keeping their homes after divorce. It allows the owner to put only his or her name on the loan and possibly obtain different loan terms.
- Keeping the joint mortgage: If for some reason your ex is comfortable with helping you keep up payments on the house, you may have the ability to keep the current loan without making changes. It is important to ensure that he or she will keep up with the payments and not pose a risk to your credit.
Whatever choice is made regarding the financial aspects of keeping a home, you may still have a way to go before completing your property division proceedings. As a result, it may benefit you to remain focused on efforts to reach your divorce-related goals.
