Bill Henry - Divorce and real estate full of many "Gotchas"

Interviewer: Today we are talking with Bill Henry; he is a partner with Robinson & Henry law firm, Bill welcome.

Bill Henry: Thank you.

Interviewer: Tax planning, real estate, and we are also going to dip into a sensitive subject here, divorce in real estate.

Bill Henry: Sure.

Interviewer: It can be difficult. You are going in as a real estate agent; you are trying to represent a husband and wife who are splitting. The house has to go for sale, there is lot's of complicates issues talk about it.

Bill Henry: Yeah, well if you are the agent and you are looking at trying to sell the home, it obviously can be pretty complex, because now you have got two parties and they are not getting along very well, all right that is the purpose of the divorce, is they are obviously not getting along. So, what happens is you end up as a real estate agent, as the realtor acting as a facilitator as much as you are, and someone that is going to sell the property, and that is going to try to market the property, and from the Realtors® perspective you really need to be seen by both parties as neutral towards each, and not biased, because if you seem like you are biased then there is a high likelihood that the deal could just fall through, because one side just assumes the other side is somehow getting this better deal even if it's not true.

Interviewer: All right, so what are some big mistakes outside of may be siding with one or the other that a realtor could potentially make with a divorcing couple?

Bill Henry: Well, what we are seeing right now and you know it's the realtor, it's also how realtor can advise their clients, and what we are seeing right now with the market place being and houses being worth less that no dollar [phonetic] [00:01:20] is the deficiency that is created, and it has got huge implications and how they handle that in the divorce is going to really affect what happens after the marriage, what we are typically seeing is, one spouse is going to say all right I am going to take on this home, this is my home, and he says I am going to be responsible for selling it or I am going to keep it, and therefore they are also saying I am going to take on this debt, what could happen many times is they have inadvertently or, sometimes by design have agreed to identifying [Inaudible][00:01:45] harmless which what that means is.

If you will make the payment to the bank, and the bank comes after the other spouse, and this spouse can come after you, so it creates almost like a triangle, it creates big problems also when we look at the other areas while we are going towards a bankruptcy, it limits how that spouse can discharge that debt, normally most people would imagine that they are going to file a Chapter 7 which is your fresh start bankruptcy.

Interviewer: So, may be our first determination right after that is, what is the status on Loan to Value Ratio right after that, and if there is a deficiency let's negotiate this between the parties right upfront.

Bill Henry: Absolutely, absolutely if it can be handled up front before a court enters the order for the decree, and who is going to handle that debt; it's obviously much better and of course if you can negotiate out that deficiency, if it's going to be a short sale, much better situation for both parts.

Interviewer: All right, are there some more tips that you can pass along to Realtors® who are representing divorce couples?

Bill Henry: Yeah, when you are representing a divorce couple, and assuming they are both on the loan and so therefore they are both on the title so you are really representing both of them, you have to recognize that they are not getting along very well, and so therefore you need to make sure you are communicating with each party, and you can assume just, because you told one party something that it is going to get to the other party, because most likely it's not going to happen.

Interviewer: And sometimes they are not living under the same roof anymore.

Bill Henry: Many times correct.

Interviewer: Yeah and then the signing of documents by the respective parties becomes even more paramount.

Bill Henry: Right absolutely, absolutely.

Interviewer: That is good information, thanks so much, appreciated.

Bill Henry: Thank you.

Posted on November 17, 2009 18:48:22 by Blog Author