Issues with house payments and ex is behind in support

In my separation agreement (divorced over a year now), I was to keep the house and make payments on it and the equity line until I could sell. It’s been hard in this market, since nothing is selling and we can’t give the house away. My ex has been selectively following the separation agreement. As of January, he will owe $8,000 in back child support for 2010.

In the meantime, I have to keep paying and paying on this house that I can’t afford to keep…let alone keep when he’s not paying what he’s supposed to. The deed is in my name, but he’s on the mortgage/equity line. Is there anything I can do to get out of this house and have it turned back over to him if he’s not paying what he agreed to pay? I know just going to court will cost me thousands alone – what can or would the court do to help me get out of this mess?

Am I allowed to let the house go into forclosure if he’s not holding up his end of the agreement?

If you allow the home to go into foreclosure you will be in breach of the agreement. You may attempt to negotiate a modification of the agreement and use the unpaid support to bargain for him to make a change.
Alternatively you may want to consider suing him for breach of contract to recover child support, or contacting child support enforcement to assist you in collecting the funds you need to pay the debt on the home.

The problem with suing him for breach is that 1) it will cost me thousands in legal expenses to do this and 2) he has no assets of any kind to take. He was unemployed, so burned through any money he had and is probably still in debt. He hasn’t put aside the quarterly overage that’s due into child support (any quarter where he makes over 25k, he has to pay an additional 30% of the overage to cs). The court can order him to pay, but if he has no money, then I’m just out all the thousands I paid in legal expenses to tell him to pay.

Is there no way to get out from under this house that I can’t afford without his agreed upon payments?

Unfortunately his breach does not make your potential breach acceptable, I recommend trying to negotiate a new agreement.