Baby Daddy Drama

by Darrin DeRoches October 3 - 10, 2013

Lately I have been involved in the sale of the matrimonial home in a couple of messy divorces. Divorce is a big part of real estate; they saying go with the big three D’s “Death, Divorce and Debt”. These are the main reasons for selling property. Moving on up to the bigger home and the first time buyer are the other half of all real estate deals.     I am currently selling a home where the one partner does not want to sign the deal. We have a great offer ready to close, greater than their expectations, one wants to sign but the other will not. We spoke with her lawyer and he advised her to list and sell the house since it was in her name and they have not lived “as a couple, for over two years”. We took the lawyer’s advice and listed the property a week ago. Within three days we had a great offer and she accepted it. Then, let’s call him “baby daddy” who is not involved made a fuss over the sale and asked how much did “we” get for the house. She informed him of the price and that was that. A day later he started to ask a ton of questions about the house and she told him to speak to myself or the lawyer to answer all his questions.     Within a day he had a lawyer and was claiming the home to be the matrimonial home. He did not pay one mortgage payment, gas bill or hydro bill. His lawyer is calling it the matrimonial home and he is claiming 50 per cent ownership. His name is not on the title but when they started out together three years ago, they had a child and they lived in the home as a couple. Two years have passed but he is now trying to get 50 per cent of a property he has paid nothing into. The women’s lawyer now changed his tune and asked us to get him to sign the agreement. Problem is the deal is accepted and we are waiting for them to remove conditions. We ask the “baby daddy” to sign and of course he says, “No, and I want 50 per cent of the profit”. They have never been married, he has never paid a dime into the house and he has now almost killed the deal since he will not sign. They are going to sit down with their lawyers and try to work it out but if he does not sign the deal will be dead. In all fairness, he legally may have a right to try and get money out of the house but morally, I think he is in the wrong. It just goes to show you the biggest issue in divorce is the money and it usually involves the biggest asset; the home. I would usually get both parties to agree before listing a property but in this case the lawyer instructed her that he had no legal claim. The lawyers may be the ones making all the money in this case. V     Darrin DeRoches is a local real estate and mortgage broker. He can be reached to answer questions, comments or stories about real estate experiences through this weekly column at sold@uniquerealty.ca.