Is my house separate property?

So my divorce is final and my ex and I are still fighting over ED mainly the house. I live in it and my ED case has been ongoing for 3 years. When I purchased the house my then wife lived in Georgia I was overseas in the military. We were separated at the time I didn’t intend to get back to get her with her but we also had not retained attorneys. When I returned to NC I purchased the house my then wife was still living in Georgia. A few months later we decided to work things out she moved in for about 12 months then moved back out and we finally divorced.

She’s insisting that the house is martial property. It’s been 4 years since I purchased the house. She only lived in it for 12 months her name is not on the mortgage loan or on the recorded deed. We did not have a free trader agreement when I purchased it because we had already been living apart for almost a year and she was a resident of Georgia.

She now wants to claim the house as marital even though I purchased the house while she was a resident of Georgia and didn’t even move in until 3 months after I purchased it by myself. We did not have anything filed with the court because I left on a last minute assignment and she moved back to Georgia.

What are the chances the judge will side with me and call the house separate property?

If you were legally married when you purchased the house, then you and your wife reconciled the marriage for a period of time, and then you separated again, then the house is marital property subject to being divided equally.

If you purchased the house prior to the date of marriage, then the house would be both your separate property and marital property. The marital value would be the amount of principal paid down on the mortgage during the marriage (regardless of how the mortgage is titled) and the amount of any improvements made during the marriage, if any. The marital value would be subject to being divided equally.


Anna Ayscue

Attorney with Rosen Law Firm Cary • Chapel Hill • Durham • Raleigh • Wake Forest

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See based on the above response, I am so confused. I am like the spouse in the above situation. Except I am on the title. My wife bought a home 2 months before we married, and we refinanced it twice in both of our names and sold it in both our names, and I paid half the mortgage, and their defense is saying its her sole property and all of the earnings from the sale should go to her.