Buying a House?

I bet you're wondering, "What does me buying a house have to do with anything?" Well, we wondered the same thing once upon a time. So before we bought our house during my (now) husband's long, drawn out divorce, he asked his attorney how it might affect things, if at all.

She, of course, didn't respond.

After we bought our house, his ex started crying about him including his mortgage interest on his income and expense report. We wondered what this was all about, so we again asked his attorney. That's when we were told that buying a house DOES affect your support payments! How? By increasing them, of course!!!

Yes, that's right. Your mortgage interest is used in the Dissomaster calculation to calculate your support payments because, even though you're spending more money each month now that you have a mortgage payment, you're able to claim your mortgage interest on your tax return, which means that you could get a larger refund from the IRS each year. (No guarantee, of course...we ended up OWING money that first year, and yet his support payments increased regardless!)

So while you're decreasing your available cash each month, you MAY be getting an increased refund from the IRS each year (income). Of course, your refund certainly won't be equal to your increased monthly expenses, but the court doesn't care about that...your refund is additional income as far as they're concerned. So buying a house means you'll now have even less available cash because your newfound wealth (that annual tax refund) is going to make your spousal and/or child support payments go up!

I know...it's bullshit, to be sure! But it is what it is...and it sucks!