I’m actually an in-house attorney working for an NC based company. Unfortunately, I know very little about NC law (DC/GA). That said, I’ve found the home of my dreams with my wife of three years. My significantly larger income will qualify us for the mortgage; however, we are applying jointly. Any advice on what could be drafted to avoid problems (if they were to arise) regarding payment of this mortgage following a divorce/separation. I’m happy to discuss over the phone and/or potentially retain Rosen to help with this scenario. We do not have a pre-nuptial agreement in place.
Any real property that you buy jointly will be considered marital for the purposes of dividing the marital estate later. If you put separate money as a down payment, you should title the property as tenants in common which will help maintain the separate nature of your down payment. I assume that since you say you are applying for the loan jointly, that you will both be on the promissory note. if that is the case, you will both be responsible for the debts to the bank, and you cannot sign anything that will change this obligation to the bank, but you could execute a post-separation agreement that would discuss what would be done with the house depending upon different future events.