Q: Husband won't put my name on the deed to house. I have been paying towards the mortgage since marriage. What can I do?
Only his name is on the mortgage, he paid on the house for 6 years before we were married. House has appreciated since marriage, we have both put work into it. He makes 50k more a year than I do, but I work FT and stay home with our child 5 days a week. I pay half of all utilities/groceries/family health insurance and 1/3rd of the mortgage/insurance/property taxes. He also refused to help me pay for the medical bills from our son's pregnancy. He has a large savings and I'm in debt from medical bills. What am I entitled to if I file for divorce?
A:
Generally, even if only one spouse's name is on the deed, the court will generally consider the home as marital if purchased during the marriage. If one spouse owned the home prior to the marriage, then the Court will generally determine that part of the equity in the home is marital and part is not. The other spouse would only be entitled to a share (usually 50%) of the marital equity in the home.
The same generally goes for other assets, including retirement or other savings. Assets earned or accrued during the marriage are generally considered marital but those that were earned or accrued prior to the marriage are generally not. The other spouse is generally only entitled to a share of the martial portion of these funds or accounts.
In practice, this can become more complicated with concepts such as co-mingling of marital and non-marital funds and earnings on the non-marital portion of an account.
Medical bills for a child or due to the birth of a party's child is generally considered marital.
Every case is different and there are exceptions to general guidelines. You would want to retain an attorney to assist you in a divorce action.
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