Q: Does a party in a long term unmarried relationship with their name on a mortgage but not the deed have property rights?
Two parties in roughly 9+ year cohabitant unmarried relationship with child. Home was purchased while together using credit of both parties (both listed on the mortgage), but only one party was named on the deed. Both have contributed to the mortgage and up keep of the home. They are ending the relationship and the home is being sold. Does the party not named on the deed have any rights to the profit made from the sale of the home? Money was provided to the party on the deed for paying the mortgage, with few (if any) direct mortgage payments made by the party not on the deed.
A:
The Court generally looks to who is listed on the title of the deed to determine ownership of the home.
That being said, it is possible to receive compensation when the parties have an agreement and one party would be unjustly unriched by the Court not following the agreement and awarding one party some type of compensation when one of the parties does not follow the terms of the agreement. There are also sometimes other ways to seek compensation when unmarried parties are splitting up depending on the facts of the case. You may expect that the homeowner will argue that contributions towards the costs of the home where a share of the rents or other living expenses. These cases can be complicated and the results vary depending a lot on the overall facts of the case and the judge assigned to the case.
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