Man Bails on Mortgage -- And Then Sues Ex-Wife!

Judge Judy

Steven is suing his ex-wife Katie for damaging their home -- but he says he stopped paying the mortgage!  The Original! There’s only ONE Judge Judy. Visit our website for where to watch, weekdays.  #JudgeJudy

Transcript

00:00Stephen Taylor is suing his ex-wife, Katie Cormier,

00:05for damages to his home from her incomplete renovations.

00:09Mr. Taylor, you and Ms. Cormier used to be married.

00:14Yes.

00:14And you have children together.

00:15How many do you have?

00:16Two.

00:17How old are they?

00:18Eight and 11.

00:18You're divorced.

00:19She's remarried.

00:20How long have you been divorced?

00:21Almost three years.

00:22In the divorce, you got the marital home.

00:25Yes.

00:25And you split custody of the children.

00:27Yes.

00:28There came a time when you were going

00:29to sell the marital home.

00:30You had moved out already?

00:31I had moved out, and yes.

00:33Where did you move to?

00:34I moved in with my fiancee into her home.

00:36In what month and year did you vacate the marital home?

00:39I moved out a few months before that, probably June 2018.

00:44And did you put the house up for sale?

00:45I had not yet.

00:46Had you been paying the mortgage?

00:48That's a yes or a no?

00:49No.

00:50Not at that time.

00:51The mortgage was in just your name,

00:52or the mortgage was a joint mortgage?

00:54It was initially a joint mortgage.

00:56Well, after the divorce, did that change,

00:58or was it always a joint responsibility?

01:00It was still in both of our names at that time, yes.

01:03So your former wife was as responsible for any deficit

01:06if the home went into foreclosure as you were?

01:09No, she filed for bankruptcy right after the marriage.

01:11So she was relieved of the mortgage?

01:13Yes, sir.

01:14OK.

01:14I'm going to get all this.

01:16So you hadn't paid the mortgage since June of 2018,

01:20and the house was in foreclosure?

01:21It was headed towards foreclosure.

01:24It's still not.

01:25It's up for sale right now.

01:26Your Honor, actually, he has not been paying the mortgage

01:28since September of 2017.

01:31Does that sound more like it, Mr. Taylor?

01:33No, that does not sound correct.

01:35Whatever it is, you own a home.

01:36If you'd like to see I have the foreclosure documents.

01:37Just whatever it is, you own a home, and for well over a year,

01:41you hadn't paid the mortgage on the house,

01:43so that the bank got stiffed, and she declared a bankruptcy,

01:47so she got out from under.

01:49And what you discussed between the two of you at some point

01:52was that she would like to buy back the marital home,

01:55and she was going to get a loan to bring the home up to date

02:00on its back mortgage payments and perhaps back taxes.

02:04And you allowed both she and her husband to go into the house

02:08to start to do whatever renovations they wanted to do.

02:11I allowed them access so they could get measurements

02:14and plan for what they were going to do the house.

02:16Whatever, it doesn't make any sense, as far as I'm concerned.

02:18You had very little interest in that house

02:20because you'd stopped paying the mortgage

02:22and was stiffing the bank.

02:23I was choosing to use my money elsewhere.

02:25That's really nice.

02:27Yeah.

02:29You know, I don't find that attractive.

02:31No. Because you moved in with your fiancée

02:33into her house, right?

02:34So I don't know if you're contributing to her house.

02:36Doesn't make any difference.

02:38But the bank got stiffed because you chose

02:40to put your money elsewhere.

02:42When was the last time you made a mortgage payment?

02:45It was in...

02:46June of 2018?

02:48Maybe. I think that might be around the correct time.

02:51I paid up, so I was caught up then, about...

02:54June 2018.

02:55Is that what you're telling me?

02:57Yes, Your Honor.

02:57So this is what your lawsuit is about.

02:59You said that there was an agreement

03:01that they would go in, take some measurements,

03:02and then your former wife couldn't get a mortgage on her own

03:06because she had filed for bankruptcy after the divorce.

03:09I don't know about the new husband.

03:11But what they wanted you to do, according to you,

03:14was to co-sign for a mortgage for them.

03:16Yes.

03:17I don't know why anybody would give you another mortgage

03:19since you hadn't been paying your old mortgage,

03:22so that sounds kind of stupid.

03:23It was...

03:24Not quite correct.

03:25What? I'm not... I'm not speaking to you.

03:26Okay. Sorry.

03:27And then his name, the new husband's name,

03:30was also on a quick claim deed

03:32that they wanted you to sign, correct?

03:34That's correct.

03:35So now you say that they went into the house

03:37and they did all kinds of renovations

03:39that you had to fix up

03:40because the house is back on the market.

03:42They removed all the carpet, yes.

03:43Yes.

03:44I wouldn't call it renovations, but that's what they did.

03:46Mr. Taylor, your case is dismissed.

03:48We're done.

03:49You pay up your mortgage.

03:51Goodbye.

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