A divorce is such a personal and emotional situation for Oklahoma couples that it is sometimes easy to forgot that while a divorce settlement or agreement creates a binding and legally enforceable contract between the husband and wife, it is limited to those parties. You can sue your former spouse if they fail to abide by the terms of the agreement, but no one else can.

The other side of that agreement is that it cannot modify other contracts that you and your spouse signed prior to the divorce. The car loan that both of you signed means that you could receive a call from the finance company, requesting that you make a loan payment even though the car was “given” to your former spouse in the property division of the divorce agreement.

The same is true for a home mortgage. If you are like most couples, you both signed all the loan documents at the closing when you purchased the home, and you are both obligated to by the mortgage to make payments, even if the interest in the home was assigned to one of the parties.

Determining what to do with the home is a complex question. Because it typically is necessary to “buy out” one party if the other party wishes to keep the home, but that may be financially impossible. Likewise refinancing the home in one party’s name may be difficult if they lack the economic resources to qualify for a new loan.

You need to discuss all of these matters with your divorce attorney before your divorce agreement is made final, to prevent any unpleasant surprises in the future.