How to handle your mortgage in a California divorce

Many California couples take out a mortgage together with the understanding they’ll be married for life to pay off the mortgage together. As a result, California residents have many questions about how to handle mortgages in a divorce.

How is the mortgage split in a divorce?

The name on the mortgage is the one that’s responsible for paying it off. Therefore, if both names are on the mortgage, you are both responsible for that debt regardless of who lives in the house.

Some divorced couples decide to sell the house in order to pay off the mortgage. This ensures that the mortgage gets paid without the pair relying on or contacting each other after the divorce.

Selling the house to a third party is the most neutral option. However, this isn’t always a reasonable solution when there are children involved though.

What if you can’t sell the house

There are plenty of reasons a couple wouldn’t want to or be able to sell their house. Children, money and investments are all huge reasons that couples won’t want to sell.

If one spouse decides to stay in the home, they can choose to buy the spouse out of their half of the house. Or if there are children involved, they can decide to just stay in the house and hope their spouse continues to make payments towards the mortgage.

What are the other options?

There are options for refinancing the mortgage depending on what you and your spouse want to do with the house. If you and your soon-to-be ex-spouse can’t reach a decision, the court will ultimately help you decide – but you might not like the results.

It’s important to know going into the divorce what you want the outcome to be. It’s also important to compromise when necessary and keep all of your finances organized.