Do I have rights to our residence?
Question Details:
My wife and I (she is filing for divorce) have a mortgage on one half of our house which is in the red $60k due to the market. The other half is owned outright by her father's living trust. Can I insist on living in the house (and paying half the bills) until the market rebounds? What ramifications might come occur in the meantime?
You can certainly argue for staying in the house to avoid selling at a loss, but you can't "insist" on it, because ultimately it's up to the court to make the call. I think if you want to go this route, you'll need a good lawyer, because the arguments that would support your position are pretty involved.
It might not be a bad position to take, though, even if it turns out that you have little hope of getting the court to actually let you stay on in the home. If your wife wants a short sale now, it's possible that the judge might make her take on a bit more than half of the debt, if you have presented an alternative.

Are you a lawyer?
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