Plus, if the ex is ever late, as Reba mentions, that late becomes your own mortgage late…and a mortgage late will dramatically drop your credit score.

In my own case, I did a very simple and amicable DIY divorce with an ex but we did understand the implications of the mortgage situation. I was on his mortgage for many years (I still trusted him completely) and he also helped me with buying my next home( he also trusted me). Only a few years later did we refinance (when rates were lower) each property and by that time we both had had significant rises in our incomes to qualify individually for our own homes. But, we are a rare case and we remain friends to this day.

I’ve seen plenty of situations outside of even a divorce – such as siblings and investors – who are involved in owning property together that go through a similar issue. One client I helped sell an investment property for had had one sibling buy out another co-investor’s portion of a property but they only executed a Quit Claim and there was no refinance. A few years later the former investor found out his credit had been ruined because the brother of the family who managed the property hadn’t been paying the mortgage on time. The sister that bought out this other investor also didn’t realize a QC didn’t relieve the former co-investor of financial obligation – and these folks own about 15 different properties for a total of about 60 units (including apartments). You’d think they’d know better – but they didn’t.

Many people don’t understand deeds, ownership issues, and mortgages. There is not enough public information about these issues that is easily accessible and understandable to most folks and it’s a darn shame. The internet and forums such as this one certainly help but not everyone has or knows the access to the resources.

I do know one sitaution where the court ordered a sale and it netted the couple very little (one of them didn’t want the sale). So perhaps it does happen.