I was court ordered to get my ex released from responsibility for the mortgage on our marital home after we were divorced and I was awarded (after lengthy litigation) the residence. The house is currently worth less than I owe. She did not make the payments she was obligated to make thus causing the mortgage to become in arrears. Now I am being held in contempt of court for not getting her name off the loan. No mortgage company is going to be able to justify refinancing. Any help would be greatly appreciated

You should have refinanced while you had the chance. Now you are stuck being in contempt of the court order. You might try a short sale.

What was the judge thinking? The court can't make you get "her name off the loan." That is the decision of the mortgage holder (the bank) and you can't force the bank to release her.

You can ask. It appears that you did. So simply show the court the steps you took to attempt to get the bank to do this. If you did everything you could without success you are not in contempt.

What was the judge thinking? The court can't make you get "her name off the loan." That is the decision of the mortgage holder (the bank) and you can't force the bank to release her.

You can ask. It appears that you did. So simply show the court the steps you took to attempt to get the bank to do this. If you did everything you could without sucess you are not in contempt.

This depends on the wording of the order. A bank does not and will not honor an order by a court to remove someone from a mortgage. But if one party in the divorce is ordered to REFINANCE the property in their name and they fail to do so, then they could be held in contempt of court.

On the other hand, if it can be shown that an attempt was made to get new financing but that no lender would give it, that could be a defense.