Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Nevada

13 years ago I put down payment on house and have been paying the mortgage ever since but my "boyfriend's" name is also on loan and deed. We both reside in the house but separately. How can one or the other legally leave without recourse concerning loan/mortgage?


Asked on 1/03/12, 1:58 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Rick Williams Law Offices of Frederick D. (Rick) Williams, Chtd.

Either of you can quit claim the house to the other, but that will not remove your (or his) name from the financing. The only way the departing party can be completely separated from both the house and the debt associated with it is to be released from the financial obligation by the lender. That is very unlikely, because what incentive is there for the bank to let one of two borrowers off the hook? This is a huge problem that is often encountered in divorce law.

One possibility is for the remaining person to seek a refinance of the mortgage debt. If you are upside down in the house (like most of us in Nevada!), that will not likely happen, though. Additionally, the person seeking the new loan will have to be able to qualify on his/her own income and balance sheet.

You can enter a contract between you in which the one leaving can promise to never do anything that would jeopardize the title of the house, but the one staying really cannot enforce it any meaningful way. If your co-borrower files bankruptcy, it could present a problem for you. If he wants to take out a new mortgage to buy another house, it definitely will be a problem for him.

You cannot even sue him to remove your name from the debt (if that were your wish) since the court cannot order the lender to remove a borrower from the contract.

Sorry ... no easy answers here.

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Answered on 1/04/12, 6:03 pm


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