Washington law – split up property ?
Question:
Hi, Is it true that Washington State law forces you to split up property when you get a divorce? Some lawyer told, but im not true she is right. What if you own a house and both agree not to sell it because its finally an investment? Is there a legal way to keep the morgage on both names, keep the house and let one of the divorced live there? Thx in advance Silvia
Response:
I am not an expert in Washington law, but I did not receive advice like that during my divorce here, nor did my ex’s attorney attempt to enforce it. Since this is a community property state, if you cannot agree on a division a judge may choose to force a division of everything. If you agree, that should be between the two of you and I can’t see how or why the court would interveen. However, I will warn you very strongly not to carry any property in joint name after the divorce. There are all sorts of other ways to divide up the total of all assets and keep the house for one or another person. Sharing of "investments" just opens the door to years of problems. If you are getting divorced, get divorced. If you want to stay partners in a significant investment as your top priority, stay married. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -Hi, Is it true that Washington State law forces you to split up property when you get a divorce? Some lawyer told, but im not true she is right. What if you own a house and both agree not to sell it because its finally an investment? Is there a legal way to keep the morgage on both names, keep the house and let one of the divorced live there? Thx in advance Silvia
Response:
It really depends on the level of communication, and trust between to two parties. My first wife and I kept a house after the divorce for almost 3 years. I lived in the dwelling and paid the mortgage and maintenance fees (condo) and I only came to her for 1/2 of the money needed when we had an assessment placed on the property due to leaky condo repairs. At the time the property was a major liability (the market had dropped considerably.) I ended up buying her out for $1.00 when the equity and mortgage were at par. I was also able to hold on to my retirement savings by offering to pay some of the leaky condo assessments for her as opposed to her taking a tax hit on the portion of retirement savings as she was entitled in a divorce settlement (yes I got it all in writing). Good thing we didn’t see a lawyer to complicate the matters 
But to answer your question. If both parties are in agreement and the judge finds both parties (and their children) would not be negatively effected by continuing to hold such an investment *equally* then there should not be a reason to force the sale. The arrangement should be clearly set out in the divorce papers submitted to the judge. As with our divorce papers it was stated to sell at this point would place both parties in unnecessary hardship (paying a mortgage with no home and have to find rent on top of that for both parties….). The way it worked out I had the condo and the motgage payments, she could then afford to pay a decent rent without having to make payments to the mortgage (even thought she was still legally on he morgage documents). John
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I am not an expert in Washington law, but I did not receive advice like that during my divorce here, nor did my ex’s attorney attempt to enforce it. Since this is a community property state, if you cannot agree on a division a judge may choose to force a division of everything. If you agree, that should be between the two of you and I can’t see how or why the court would interveen. However, I will warn you very strongly not to carry any property in joint name after the divorce. There are all sorts of other ways to divide up the total of all assets and keep the house for one or another person. Sharing of "investments" just opens the door to years of problems. If you are getting divorced, get divorced. If you want to stay partners in a significant investment as your top priority, stay married. Hi, Is it true that Washington State law forces you to split up property when you get a divorce? Some lawyer told, but im not true she is right. What if you own a house and both agree not to sell it because its finally an investment? Is there a legal way to keep the morgage on both names, keep the house and let one of the divorced live there? Thx in advance Silvia
