I bought a house with my ex-fiancé almost 3 years ago and now that we split she has decided to move to Florida with her new boyfriend. The house is both of our names and I am the one staying here and taking care of the upkeep and maintenance as we are trying to sell this place. We mutually agreed to split the mortgage cost as well as maintenance costs but I am worried that once she moves she will stop paying her portion of the mortgage. I cannot afford the whole mortgage by myself as I only work part-time and am attending graduate school. I would like to know if there is anything I could do to ensure she takes responsibility for her portion of the expenses until this house is sold? Also, if she takes off to Florida and leaves me here in Indiana, should I ask her to get a power of attorney for her brother so he could sign the paperwork for her when this house finally gets sold? What type of legal ground do I have to stand on here? Should I get an attorney and take her to court to have some type of legal documentation? She left me for another guy so I really do not care to deal with her any more than I have to but I want to make sure that she takes care of her responsibilities with this house. One other fact that I forgot to mention is that the housing market in this area is not great so I believe that it is going to take quite a while to get this place sold. I'm keeping all receipts for anything dealing with the house as well.

Thanks for your Feedback,
Tony

Why don't you see for yourself first if she won't take responsibility along the way? It's hard to tell if it's a chick or a crocodile unless the egg is hatched, if you know what I'm saying>

She does not pay her student loans or credit cards since we split so why would I trust her to be responsible for the house.

Hello Tony:

In your mutual agreement, did you take into consideration that until the house is sold, you're living in it, and she has her own housing expenses to consider? If you didn't, then splitting 50/50 isn't equitable. It's hard enough to get people to keep agreements that ARE equitable. You'll never get this agreement enforced.

Yes, I know she agreed to it. However, in the law, it takes MORE than just people agreeing to something before it becomes binding.

excon

PS> Maybe you could offer to pay her some rent.