House Partitioned And Sold To Satisfy Debt Incurred By Husband Michael T. Sawyier
Q.
I have been estranged from my husband for 15
years. My house is in both of our names. I recently
got called by a person saying he owns part of my
house due to my husband owing some credit card
debt that he purchased. I also have received
paperwork to dissolve the debt from a lawyer. I did
not sign anything. I asked the lawyer who paid the
debt and he said I should be happy. He never told
me who paid the debt. I am confused. I don't owe
anyone anything and they are trying to take my
home. I contacted a lawyer who I have had for 3
months that did nothing did not even call the
opposing lawyer. I need an honest, helpful attorney.
-- Anonymous
A.
Married couples typically own their homes either as
joint tenants with the right of survivorship or else
as tenants by the entirety. One of the benefits of a
couple's owning their home as tenants by the
entirety is that creditors cannot enforce a lien on
that property in order to satisfy a debt incurred by
only one of the spouses. If you and your estranged
husband hold title as tenants by the entirety and
the credit card debt is his alone, then, even if your
husband's creditors obtained a judgment against
him and recorded it, the resulting judgment lien
against the property would not be enforceable. For
such a lien to be enforceable against your home,
the home would have to be held in joint tenancy
with right of survivorship or else in "tenancy in
common." A joint tenancy or tenancy in common
does not offer the same protection against
creditors as a tenancy by the entirety.
Even assuming that the credit card company
here has obtained and recorded a judgment against
your husband and that the title to your home is not
held in tenancy by the entirety, that judgment
would not by itself put the creditor into title to or
possession of any part of your home. That could
only happen if your husband has conveyed his
interest in the property to his creditors to satisfy
that judgment or the court has ordered a "partition"
of the property for that same purpose. In either of
those cases, the ownership would then become a
tenancy in common (if it was no so already). Then
each owner would own a transferable 50% interest,
and your husband's interest (not yours) could be
sold at a court-ordered sale. The purchaser, if any,
of that interest would then own the property as a
tenant in common with you.
