Holding the Home Hostage in Divorce

CASE STUDY: MARIE HELD RICK HOSTAGE

In this weeks case study we had the following scenario…

Rick had moved out of the family home months earlier, but was still struggling to maintain payments so his 2 children and his soon to be ex-wife, Marie, could stay until the house was sold.  To try to make ends meet, he moved into a small 2 bedroom apartment.

When the kids came to visit, his daughter slept on blow-up mattress and his son shared his bed, and the kids didn’t like that.  In fact, they sometimes refused to go see him because they couldn’t have their own bedrooms like they had in the family home.  And that suited Marie.  She hoped that the situation would make it easier for her to gain full custody of the kids.

She also wanted to save money, knowing that once she moved out of the house she’d have to pay her own rent.  That she realized probably meant living is a lesser home and a less desirable neighborhood, so she did all she could to stall the sales process.

Meanwhile the house payments were putting a strain on Rick and he was in jeopardy of missing them.  Being late on the mortgage would impact both of their credit scores and make it much more difficult for either of them to buy or rent another house.

The attorneys reached out to their local Certified Divorce Real Estate professional for help.  The CDRE was able to provide the communication skills as well as knowledge of the legal process so that the sale of the property could move forward with Marie’s cooperation before it was too late.

If you are having issues with cooperation in a case please reach out and we can review options so that your client’s credit is protected.