How To Avoid Mistakes in Your Separation or Divorce Settlement in Ontario!

How To Avoid Mistakes in Your Separation or Divorce Settlement in Ontario!

I want to talk today about an issue that came up with a client that I met recently.  I did not negotiate his family court settlement.  He came to see me about a year later after his family law case was completed.

He wanted some advice on how he and his ex-wife settled the issue of the house and some other issues in his case. 

Hi, my name is Thomas O’Malley.  I’m an experienced family lawyer in Durham Region and the GTA.

Please remember to like this video and subscribe to my Youtube channel if you have not done so already.

My client made a settlement in his family law case that he was going to buy the house.  And he had this whole thing worked out on how much money he owed his ex-wife for her interest in the house.

His agreement with his ex-wife was that he would have 90 days to refinance the mortgage on the house to buy out his wife’s interest in the house and take her name off the mortgage on the home.

The facts of his case at the time of their separation were that they owned the house together.  They had been married for almost 18 years.  Both my client and his wife were on the mortgage on the home.

They had over $200,000 in equity in their home.

However, my client had not filed his income tax return for a few years.  He had some tax issues.

He went to a bank and he some trouble.  He had to go to a second financial institution.

His credit was not as good as he thought it was and the income tax issues took longer than he realized.

And the next you know it is past the 90 days to refinance the house and pay off his former wife.

By the time he comes to see me it’s been a year since he made this agreement with his wife that he was going to keep the house and pay her for her interest in the house.

Where did this go wrong?

When you are dealing with a house, you usually only have 3 options.  You keep it, your spouse keeps it or you sell it and split the proceeds from the sale of the house with your spouse.

In this situation, my client wanted to keep the house.  The mistake was that he did not check to make sure he could get refinancing to buy out his wife’s interest in the house.

If I was family lawyer when he was negotiating a settlement with his wife, I would have told to see if he can get refinancing and get a letter from the lender that he qualifies for this amount for a mortgage to buy out his wife’s interest in the house.

Then we would have a solid bargaining position since we would tell the wife and her lawyer that my client wants to keep the house, buy out the wife’s interest in the home and he has the financing to do it.

Unfortunately, the client did not do this.  He’s not a lawyer and he did not know to take this action. 

Here he is a year later trying to figure out what to do.

You want to avoid these types of serious problems and pitfalls by getting legal advice from an experienced family lawyer before you make any type of agreement with your ex-spouse.

I don’t like to see these kinds of problems that spouses getting separated or divorced can face. 

I hope that helps.

If you have any questions about your separation, divorce or family law case and you would like our help, feel free to contact on my Facebook law office page, that’s O’Malley Family Law, or call me at 905-434-8837 and I’ll point in you in the right direction. 

Click here to join my free Facebook GTA and Durham Region separation and divorce support group: GTA and Durham Region Separation and Divorce Support Group

Please make sure to share this important information with your friends, family members and co-workers.