I’ve seen it all….usually in reverse. And it’s pretty much guess work – nearly all of it. Here’s why. When two lawyers, two clients and a mediator (or, in court, a judge) are presented with the conundrum of a spouse who is being awarded the house but which has a mortgage which is in the […]

ADDING VALUE TO YOUR CLIENTS’ DECREE HOW TO DESIGNATE DEBT AND CITE IT EFFECIENTLY IN A DECREE   Typical problem in mortgage financing for divorced borrowers: Divorce decrees assign debts and generally designates those debts by citing the creditors and account numbers’ last 4 digits. A debt assignment might look like   a.    Debt to […]

How and When To Order an Appraisal In Divorce A few years ago, two divorcing parties had obtained an appraisal (directly from a reputable appraiser) on their house which reported a value of $545,000. Based on the perceived equity, the buyout was agreed and the grantee (husband in this case who needed to refinance and […]

Full question: Should Divorce Settlements Always Require a Refinance of the Awarded Property?   Part 2: Can The Awarded Party Refinance?   If the issue of “should” is resolved, what of the issue of “can?” That is, if the consensus is that a grantee should refinance a debt, the practical question becomes, canthey qualify to […]

Should Divorce Settlements Always Require a Refinance of the Awarded (jointly-financed) Property?   Yes…nearly. Part 1 First, there are obvious situations whereby an order to refinance an awarded property makes no sense. The chief reason is if/when the grantee is the only party on the promissory note. A refinance in such a case would not […]

On Calculating Net Equity Tips For Family Law Attorneys – How To Calculate Net Equity In Property Part One- The Problem Here is something I see quite frequently in divorce settlements. (I copied this example from a recent settlement). Marital Residence Current Fair Market Value                 136,500.00 Current Balance as of                          102,965.00     Net Equity                                               33,535.00 […]

What does the Incredible Shrinking Mortgage Industry mean for you and your clients? From The National Real Estate Post (read the full report here) “According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics there’s 218,100 real estate credit employees working in the field, and that’s a 1.9% decrease over last year and .8% down from last month. […]

Here's a simple tip for Family Law Attorneys   The only attorneys that I know of who do this one simple thing are those who have referred their clients to me for mortgage financing. And, I do all the work to make it happen. It adds value to your service to clients.   How to […]

Thanks to all the attorneys who have helped refine and develop my materials on these Rule 11 Agreements. I never approached Rule 11 Agreements strictly from the legal perspective. Rather, they are a means to an end; specifically, they help us “get deals done” to put it plainly. A Sample of a Rule 11 Agreement […]

We interrupt this broadcast to bring you a special announcement...   Between the 2nd and 3rd installments of the series on Rule 11 Agreements, I thought it would be interesting to publish a few questions that came from attorneys on article #1 and the responses from a title attorney. Special thanks to attorney Kelly Bierig, […]