Among the Ask a Divorce Lawyer questions answered today by Cordell & Cordell attorneys:

• If she gets an equity loan on her gifted property, will that debt also be my debt in divorce?
• Do I and my ex wife have to file bankruptcy together or apart?
• In order to keep the house, can we settle on a child support payment amount that is less than the Friend of Court would determine?
• Is infidelity ever taken into account when awarding parenting time or child support?
• Is it considered kidnapping if the father does not consent to his children moving?
• Can grandparents seek custody?
• Can I ask to be my niece's legal guardian even if I'm stationed overseas?
• Where should I file the modification if I don't live where the divorce took place?

Question: My husband owes back child support in Texas for his two children who are now over 21 years old. 

The problem is while he’s trying to pay off the back child support, they keep adding interest on top of his remaining balance. So the interest just keeps piling up and piling up as he’s struggling to make any sort of payments. 

At this rate, he’ll never be able to pay this debt off. Is there anything we can do?

Question: My wife and I are separated but agreed to delay the divorce until we pay down debt. 

I am living with my brother to stretch the budget, but am I doing the right thing? 

Can this be some type of stall on her part or could it be seen as me leaving my wife since I moved out? I just found out that she has opened a checking account in her own name and I am not sure what to make of this either.

By Jennifer M. Paine

Attorney, Cordell & Cordell, P.C., Detroit office

Note: This is Part 2 of a two-part series. Click here to read Part 1.

In today’s downward economy, with home foreclosures having been at their highest, many couples face a common predicament; their mortgages exceed their home’s value. They cannot afford to sell, but they cannot stand to live together. Neither wants to assume the mortgage debt. Or neither can. They ask what they can and should do. Here are some suggestions.

Mortgage Traps for the Unwary

Blissful, young newlyweds on a let’s-build-a-nest high, you and your spouse purchased a half million dollar house with zero down on a thirty year mortgage with a balloon payment. Ten years later, the bliss has soured and you both want out, but the house is worth $300,000 and you’ve barely made a dent in the principal. So, your house is “underwater.” Now what?

By Jennifer M. Paine

Attorney, Cordell & Cordell, P.C., Detroit office

It's a big house, we'll divide it up! You stay in your half, I'll stay in mine! Walter and Anna argue as their house, and their marriage, fall to pieces around them.

Walter and Anna searched for a house but could not afford much. When Walter’s real estate friend offered them a beautiful mansion at a low price, the deal seemed too good to be true. It was. The second they moved in, the house fell apart – literally – around them. That antique wooden staircase? Hanging by planks. And the hot water in the claw-foot tub? Rusty muck. Not to mention the floors collapsing, the chimney caving, the garden sinking and Walter hanging between the upstairs and the downstairs, trapped inside a rug like a bottle stopper in a hole in the floor. And then came the sultry ex-husband, Max, to steal Anna away.

She says, with a pointed musician’s stare, the idea is ridiculous. But he says, with an equally pointed lawyer’s glare, they have no money not to.

This is a scene from The Money Pit, the 1986 comedy starring Tom Hanks and Shelley Long. It is a clever movie that dances seamlessly between real-life drama – divorce and finances – and outrageous comedy – exploding electrical wires, collapsing walls, slips and falls, and all. It is a great movie to entertain, whether you need a lighthearted moment in the midst of your court case or just something to do. But it speaks truth to divorced and separated, divorcing and separating couples, too.

In today’s downward economy, with home foreclosures having been at their highest, many couples face the predicament Walter and Anna faced. Their mortgages exceed their home’s value. They cannot afford to sell, but they cannot stand to live together. Neither wants to assume the mortgage debt. Or neither can. Like Walter and Anna, they ask what they can and should do. Here are some suggestions.