The mortgage & child support

[RG]

We shouldn't have a problem with a quick uncontested divorce (maybe overly optimistic), as we agree on generally everything, and the issues I have aren't really within her control.

We are on a mortgage together, and we want the kids (7 & 4) to stay in the house, agree on her having physical custody, so she stays there as well. With the market the way it is now there's no real equity worth fighting over.  The problem for me is that as a primarily SAHM for the past 3 years she's not going to qualify on her own to refinance it without me, and I'm not going to have the debt to income ratio needed to qualify for a separate mortgage as long as I'm on this one, so I'll be stuck paying inflated rent with no tax benefit in a buyer's market.  I know it can be stated in the decree that she has a certain amount of time in which to refinance.  Is that the best option, and how much time is reasonable?

She's just going back to work, and the child support guidelines are based on income.  I've got the calculator and can plug in the numbers without any problem, the question is what to put for her income.  She's got a job with base salary plus commission, but with no history of what to expect for commission.  Do we have to just use her base salary for that?  It's 38K, but a year from now she's more likely to be making 50-60K with commission.  Is the only option to go with the base now and then file to have it adjusted later??  She has prior sales experience with base + commission, but a different company and 5 years ago so I doubt it can be used as a guage.  I'm not trying to get out of paying what's right, but remember I'm the one that's going to be stuck paying $900 rent for a place I could buy with a $600 mortgage.   

[livealittle]

without a work history, you basically have to use the base now. (check with your attorney to be sure).

and you won't have to wait the standard 3 years to modify if you both agree to it. You can file a "joint petition to modify" at any time if you both agree. That will just cost you the fiing fees - usually only $200-$400. If you split that it can be as low as $100 a person.


putting a clause in the decree about she has X of time to refinance into her name only is fine - EXCEPT - with her short work history, the market like it is, etc. she may not be able to. What happens then?

in reality, your best bet is probably to sell the house and both of you completely unentangle your lives. A house is just a house, a home is where you make it.