
Quoting
BigDoug
Thank you so much for your reply, I do appreciate your advice. At this point, it feels more likely that we will proceed in this direction. In terms of the house, her name is definitely on the mortgage from when we refinanced, but I do not believe her name is on the deed. I would have to check with the township/county office to be certain, but I think the deed is as it was prior to our marriage. Would that make a difference?
I know she is certainly entitled to a portion of the equity, and I want to honor that. As far as buying out her share of the equity, it would depend on what how much it is, but in general, we would most likely have to sell the house anyway, as the cost of maintaining the mortgage is probably too high for either of us to handle alone (we both have had numerous pay cuts over the years).
For all of the other assets (cash, retirement accounts, individual bank accounts) I believe that she and I will be in agreement about splitting them as mine and hers separately, and then splitting the credit card debt and joint accounts 50/50. The only area of possible contention would be the house, which is my main concern. Obviously, I want us to work out as many details as possible ourselves before involving an attorney, to try to control costs. I do know that eventually, we will need to have representation to make sure everything is properly represented in the process.
Another side issue is that she wants to leave her current job and go to part-time employment for school. If she goes through with that, will that impact the process at all?