What’s up everyone? Divorce attorney in Chicago. Bobby Buchanan here. This is Illinois divorce TV. Today I’m answering the question. Who gets that house if I’m on the mortgage? So you’re in a divorce, you have one residence that has a mortgage on it and your name is on the mortgage and your name only. And let’s assume that your name and your name only is also on the deed. Who’s going to get the house? Well, it’s kind of a trick question because it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter whose name is on the deed or whose name is on the mortgage. Nine times out of 10 what matters is when the house was purchased and with what type of funds it was purchased. So in your most typical example, a house is purchased during the marriage. You and your spouse get married, you start saving up for a down payment for whatever reason, you find it financially beneficial to only put your name on the mortgage and only your name on the deed.

But it doesn’t matter because you bought the house during the marriage and you used marital money and that marital money could be even, let’s assume that it was, you’re the one who’s working, you saved the money for it. You put into a bank account that has just your name on it and then you purchased this house that has just your name on it. Then is it your house? Do you get the house in a divorce? No, not necessarily. Because the money you earn by working during the divorce is considered marital property, so you putting it in a bank account that only has your name on it doesn’t make it only your property and you using it to buy a house that only has your name on it doesn’t make the house only your property. So who gets the house is going to depend on other factors.

Who can afford the house after the divorce? Well, maybe only you can afford the mortgage payments. In that case, you might get the house, but you’ll have to pull equity out of the house in a cash out refinance and give part of the equity to your spouse to buy them out of what is theirs. I’m in a divorce. Marital property is split equitably and nine times out of 10 that means 50 50 even if your spouse is just a stay at home spouse and even if you don’t have kids, it’s still going to be 50 59 times out of 10 I hope that clarifies some things for you. Let me know in the comments if you have any comments, questions, concerns, you want to continue the conversation. I’m happy to do so down there. Don’t forget to subscribe so that you see our daily videos come out and I’ll talk to you soon.