A friend asks:
Married 23 years. I became stay at home Mom and did several part-time jobs to contribute financially. He was 62 and I am 60 at the time of separation 3.5 years ago. My husband took care of finances and sadly unbeknown to me liquidated any equity in our home. I had no idea he had other bank accounts and credit cards. I love my home as it is originally my parent's home and I want to keep it. I work part-time. I tried to qualify for the mortgage with a cosigner but cosigner had too many income properties and we moved onto a mortgage broker. I almost qualified for a mortgage when final inspection from lender exposed moisture problem under the house impacting foundation and beams. At that point, everything came to halt as I was told I can't sell the house until the problem is fixed. I got a professional crawl space investigation and quote and it was close to $40K. Which I do not have funds for. My husband's lawyer is now threatening to get a court order to force me to sell my home if I can not prove that I can qualify for the mortgage on my own. As there is no equity in the house and I'm forced to sell we would have no home but still have a mortgage. We have been separated 3.5 years and I've also had to reshingle the roof and spent $7K. Also, certain things needed to be fixed for the mortgage broker another $3K.
Question... Is my husband responsible for any or all of these costs? All the repairs needed existing many years before the husband moved out.
Note: I have looked at renting unsuccessfully and my mortgage payment is less than rent. I have not found anything I like and my joy is living here. How can I keep my home? I knew nothing about divorce or what my rights were or what I am entitled too.
Help please, any information would be greatly appreciated.
Married 23 years. I became stay at home Mom and did several part-time jobs to contribute financially. He was 62 and I am 60 at the time of separation 3.5 years ago. My husband took care of finances and sadly unbeknown to me liquidated any equity in our home. I had no idea he had other bank accounts and credit cards. I love my home as it is originally my parent's home and I want to keep it. I work part-time. I tried to qualify for the mortgage with a cosigner but cosigner had too many income properties and we moved onto a mortgage broker. I almost qualified for a mortgage when final inspection from lender exposed moisture problem under the house impacting foundation and beams. At that point, everything came to halt as I was told I can't sell the house until the problem is fixed. I got a professional crawl space investigation and quote and it was close to $40K. Which I do not have funds for. My husband's lawyer is now threatening to get a court order to force me to sell my home if I can not prove that I can qualify for the mortgage on my own. As there is no equity in the house and I'm forced to sell we would have no home but still have a mortgage. We have been separated 3.5 years and I've also had to reshingle the roof and spent $7K. Also, certain things needed to be fixed for the mortgage broker another $3K.
Question... Is my husband responsible for any or all of these costs? All the repairs needed existing many years before the husband moved out.
Note: I have looked at renting unsuccessfully and my mortgage payment is less than rent. I have not found anything I like and my joy is living here. How can I keep my home? I knew nothing about divorce or what my rights were or what I am entitled too.
Help please, any information would be greatly appreciated.
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