Situation: the ex-husband pays the mortgage after the divorce. Can he then not pay alimony or at least reduce the amount? What you need to know about alimony for a mortgage and mortgage for alimony.
"Gentlemen's set": divorce, mortgage, alimony
Nothing holds a marriage together like a mortgage! This is, of course, a joke, otherwise mortgage holders would never get divorced. But in every joke, as you know, there is some truth.
Over the years, a mortgage loan taken even under ideal starting conditions can become problematic (when the family living in an apartment purchased with the help of a bank is strong, the salaries of all its members are stable, there are no crises in the country, etc.). It is not known how life will turn out. One of such unforeseen, but very unpleasant, both in human and financial terms, turns is a divorce. Each of the former spouses wants not to lose property without financial losses.
If the ex-husband and ex-wife "in history" have not only happy or not very years of marriage together, but also a mortgage loan plus alimony (usually in our country they are assigned to men), then the matter is complicated threefold.
The alimony payer has a quite understandable desire to somehow reduce the financial burden. His failed wife, on the other hand, has this same situation causing fears: does the former spouse really have the right to do this. It is especially unpleasant when a woman with one or more children lives in a mortgage apartment.
But often adults forget that the law is always on the side of minors.
Let's deal with the mortgage
After the divorce, the mortgage loan is distributed to the members of the former family, depending on whether:
- When and by whom the property was purchased: before marriage by one person or in marriage. In the first case, the debt (as it was originally calculated) is paid only by the ex-spouse for whom the loan was issued.
- Whether the couple has entered into a property marriage contract. Then the mortgage is for whoever ultimately owns the property.
- How the apartment is divided after a divorce. Most often this happens through the courts, and payments are calculated based on the share of the property.
The bank that issued a loan for real estate is not interested in problems in the personal life of borrowers. The same as with any other loans. Whether alimony is "hanging" on someone or not, nothing should change for a financial institution in terms of payments. Otherwise, debtors may already have problems: with credit history, collectors, bailiffs, etc.
Therefore, it is in the interests of the former spouses to regulate their debt problems as clearly and transparently as possible, to agree with each other peacefully.
Theoretically, the borrower may try to apply to the bank with a request to lower the interest rate on the grounds that he has a difficult life situation, he temporarily (everyone hopes that temporarily) lost his job, and alimony is also on him. No one can reduce the latter, and a financial institution sometimes makes a decision to restructure debt. Trying is not torture. The bank can meet halfway. But this will be exclusively a gesture of goodwill.
Mortgage separately, alimony separately
Alimony obligations add problems to a potential borrower when taking a mortgage. For example, a man was married, divorced, and officially transfers a certain amount to support a child from his ex-wife. It is more likely that he will be refused a mortgage. Much, of course, depends on the size of the white salary, but … let's be realistic. Such a borrower is not ideal for a bank.
But as for the reverse process - the reduction of alimony due to the mortgage, then on the basis of the Family Code of the Russian Federation and other laws, it is possible, but only in one case. When the ex-spouse pays the sole mortgage (to which the husband is not related) through transfers to the child. At the same time, a man makes payments to his former family voluntarily, officially (that is, not from hand to hand, but in translation marked "per child"), and their amount is much larger than what the court would determine.
Let's leave aside the moral side of the situation. In fact, the ex-husband may try to go to court with an application to revise the amount of alimony downward. According to his logic, it means that less money is enough for a son or daughter, since the mother spends the money she receives on other needs. Even as important as an apartment. In theory, a man could even demand compensation. It is not known how the court will decide in practice in each specific case.
In other situations, a parent who pays both alimony and a mortgage has no chance of reducing the amount of alimony (and even more so not paying it at all).
Themis' logic is simple and justified:
- If a person was given a loan, it means that the bank considered that he was solvent.
- A parent should not lower the child's standard of living out of his own interests.
