Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Connecticut

Re: selling home

Not without a court order in a partition action. Those can be quite nasty and no one wins.

Why not refinance and buy him out?

Re: selling home

Hello,

Your boyfriend does have the right to file for a court-ordered partition. The easiest way around this is to buy out his share of the property, if any. You two will need to come to agreement on how much of the property is his. Even if he hasn't been paying the mortgage, the fact that he is on the title gives him an ownership interest in the property. The difficult part will be in coming to terms on how much of the property he owns, because the property will have appreciated in value over the years, and he will probably want part of that equity.

Once you agree on how much his interest is worth, you will need to pay him for his interest and have him sign a quitclaim deed to transfer his interest to you. You should also have him sign an agreement, stating that he has been paid in full for his interest in the property and has no more claims against you and/or his property (e.g., some form of an indemnification agreement). If you do not have the money to pay him for his interest, you can refinance the house with cash back and use the cash to pay him off. Your best bet would be to contact your existing lender, because most lenders will allow you to refinance and avoid some fees (including pre-payment penalties).

This is a common issue, so most lawyers should be familiar with how to handle it. I handled a case like this last month. As long as you two can agree enough to put this behind you, it should be fairly simple. Just make sure that all the proper forms are filled out and you have him sign an agreement stating that you do not owe him any more money and that he no longer has an interest in the property.

If you can't agree on what you owe him, you will have to fight about it in court, which can get very ugly and costly.

Hope that helps!

Diana