In many relationships where a couple owns a home together, if they end up getting a divorce, they will sell the house. After all, it is a marital asset and they both have a right to it. If they sell the home, they will theoretically make money in that sale. They can then simply split up the earnings and it makes property division easy.
But owning a home is difficult these days, and some people decide they want to keep the house even after the divorce. Your ex may tell you that they would like to keep the home and you can have other assets that have a similar value. Maybe the two of you have been saving for retirement together. Your spouse tells you that you can have the retirement account if they can have the house, meaning that property will still get divided evenly.
While this may be fair from a property division standpoint, it’s still important for your ex to refinance that mortgage.
Taking the house out of your name
The thing to remember is that a mortgage lender doesn’t care if you are married or divorced. They also don’t care if your ex-spouse said they would make future mortgage payments. All that the mortgage lender is interested in is that the two of you are on the mortgage paperwork together, so you are both obligated to make payments.
In other words, your ex may have good intentions of paying the mortgage moving forward. But they could also discover that keeping the house is too expensive now that they just have one income. If they don’t refinance and they start missing mortgage payments, you are going to be obligated to pay, even though your marriage is long over. If your ex refinances, though, this removes you from the equation.
This shows how the financial side of a divorce can be complex, so you need to know what legal steps to take.