Q: I own a house with my ex and would like to sell it, he does not want to sell or refinance to buy me out.
Both our names are on the mortgage, not ever married. I would like to avoid hiring a lawyer to compel a sale. Is it ok to threaten to stop paying my part of the mortgage to motivate him to agree to sell or could any negative consequences come back on me if i stop paying my part and he continues to pay it all by himself? We have no written contracts or anything stating what we agreed to pay prior to getting the house/mortgage. Also, by verbal agreement i pay about 40% of the mortgage, if we do sell the house am i only entitled to the 40% ive been paying or is it split 50/50?
A:
If you cannot get this resolved you are looking for a rather expensive partition action, unless there was a dissolution of marriage that provided the house had to be sold at some point, in which case some type of enforcement action may be possible.
I would not suggest you stop paying the mortgage since not paying will adversely affect both of your credit. Agreements relating to real property must be in writing, if a partition action ensues, the court will determine each party's interest based on facts presented, verbal agreements would most likely not be admissible or relevant.
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