Joint Mortgage

theshed

the 'joint and severally liable' thing is exactly what we understand, it is how we can come to a satisfactory answer without losing a home that has been worked hard for.

getmore4less

MEM62 wrote: »

You are really are not getting the 'joint and severally liable' thing. Basically, is it is exactly the scenario you have described above. Only it is not 'punishment'. It is the liability that each of those individuals accepted when they took on the mortgage and it would have been made clear to them. This is not two loans, there is no 50%. It is one loan for which they are both fully liable.

For your daughter to keep the house and protect it from any future claim by her ex she needs to buy him out. To do that she will have to come up with whatever settlement he may be due to buy out his 'interest' in the house (If he wants nothing all well and good but you need this legally documented!) and also be able to take on the full mortgage herself. In many cases this is not achievable as one partner will not have the financial resources to do so. However, you daughter is lucky in that you are willing to help. You need to see a mortgage broker first of all to see what you options are finance-wise. If you can make that part of it work the you will also need to see a solicitor to ensure that the transfer is legally binding.

The alternative is that your daughter continues to live there and pay the mortgage, perhaps with your assistance, and live with the risk that her ex may come chasing something one day. She will certainly have issues if he ever declared bankrupt!

Those can be separated with suitable documents.

The beneficial interests can be documented so that the liability of the mortgage lies with the one taking on the property, this could be zero payment or with a payment or deferred payment.

Ideally you remove the legal obligation of the joint liability of the mortgage but that can be delayed. not documenting the beneficial interest and just living there is not a suitable alternative.

The risk for the party walking away is if the other person defaults they need to cough up the cash, and then claim it back off the defaulter as it becomes a debt.


Many divorce settlements end up with a financial agreement like this on the beneficial interest but the parties cannot get off the mortgage.