Q: A husband and wife both have there names on a house. One day, they decide to divorce. The wife leaves and get her own
House and the husband keeps the original house with his ex wives name on the deed. My question is quite simple but slightly complicated, does the husband have to wait until the divorce process is over before renting out his house because the name of his house is still on the deed?
A:
This is a complicated question. Most homes owned by spouses are owend by "tenants in the entirety" which means the spouses do not own a 50% interest - rather each spouse owns the entire property. You are prohibited from selling or refinancing the home without your spouse's consent, but each of you may use the entire property how you wish.
That being said, the house is "marital property" and generally your spouse is entitled to half of any interest, appreciation, or profits that are passively earned from marital property. So my take is, based on the information you provided, is you probably could rent out a room in the house, but sooner or later your spouse would likely get half the income.
This could be a potential trade. Maybe you share half the profit and your spouse promises not to go after you for the free rent (based on their percent ownership in equity) you enjoy while living there.
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