Franklinville, NJ asked in Estate Planning, Real Estate Law and Civil Litigation for New Jersey

Q: What to do when an ex bf is also a co buyer of a house and he won’t leave and stated he will not give up the house?

2 Lawyer Answers
Leonard R. Boyer
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Answered
  • Clifton, NJ
  • Licensed in New Jersey

A: You need to retain an experienced civil litigation attorney who will file an action for partition and sale. During this pandemic, you have a choice of either seeing your attorney in person or by way of a secure state of the art Zoom Video Conference. So you don’t have to be restricted by geography anymore in terms of choosing an attorney. You can “Meet” your attorney online for an initial strategy session from the comfort of your own home. Through mail, e-mail and electronic filing almost everything can be done without leaving your home, for most types of cases. Pick the best attorney you can find and remember one rule: a good attorney is generally never cheap, and a cheap attorney is generally never good so don't choose based on price. In determining your choice of an attorney, there are many factors to consider, including but not limited to, can you contact the law firm's office 24/7 and speak to a live person and you should look at how the attorney is ranked on AVVO all-time nationwide. You should also consider the attorney's reviews.

Nina Whitehurst agrees with this answer

Richard Diamond
Richard Diamond
Answered
  • Short Hills, NJ
  • Licensed in New Jersey

A: You and he bought the property together and therefore you and he have to agree to permit one of you to buy out the other persons interest or to sell it and divide the proceeds from the sale. The alternative is that you / he retain lawyers and one of you will then file a partition claim to force the sale / buy out. I dont know how much either of you put down on the purchase or whether you both put down the same amount nor do I know what improvements have been made to the property since its purchase ( and how those improvements were paid for), but this is not the time to dig your heels in and take the position that he should simply walk away from the property. If you want to retain the property, agree on a joint real estate broker to provide the 2 of you with a current market value. Once you know the current value of the property, confirm the outstanding balance on the mortgage[s], which will then tell you the net equity value of the property. Hypothetically, if the property is worth 400,000 and the mortgage balance is 250,000, then the net equity is 150,000 and presumably, his 50% interest is 75,000 - which means that you will refinance the existing mortgage to remove him name from the debt and you will pay him 75,000 and in exchange, he signs over his ownership interest in the property to you ( all of which needs to be in writing between you and him).

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