Ooh. Interesting question. My inclination would be to say that the asset/debt ratio of the home is frozen as of the date of separation, and should be subject equitable division at that amount. Anything paid afterwards would be an ongoing monetary gift from the STBX.
That’s just a guess, though. I’d be interested to hear what the actual answer would be from Helena.
Generally, the spouse who has paid the mortgage will receive the benefit of any decrease in the principal after the date of separation, however if these payments were made in lieu of alimony then you could make an argument that the reduction is the separate property of the spouse living in the house.
The post separation increase in the value generally belongs to the party that retains the property.
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Helena M. Nevicosi
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In instances of prolonged separation where:
a)there has been significant appreciation in value of the marital home (over $100K) and there has been significant paydown of principal on the mortgage (over $17K) relative to DOS,
b) the estranged spouse who was no longer living in the marital home SOLELY made ALL mortgage, tax, and insurance payments on the marital home in lieu of paying alimony and child support to the spouse who continued to live in the martital home under a temporary notarized, written agreement that was not filed with the Court,
and
c) neither party has yet filed for divorce or for ED, but intend to do so:
is there any rule of thumb how a judge might split this divisible property given that only one party made payments during the separation, but these payments were in lieu of post-separative support ?