Keeping the house after a separation

Where the insurer program applies, the transaction is set up as a purchase rather than a refinance, which is why it is not bound by the 80% refinance ceiling: you are buying your co-owner’s share.

On the maximum figure. Several websites quote a specific loan-to-value; CMHC’s public product list, checked 2026-09-20, does not name a spousal buyout program, so this page states the mechanism only and the maximum for your file is confirmed with the insurer and lender before you sign.

The agreement defines what the mortgage funds. It should set out:

• The buyout amount, as a figure, and the basis for the value; an appraisal the lender can rely on beats an agreed guess.
• Who stays on title and who comes off, and the date.
• Which debts are settled from the proceeds. Some insurer programs permit joint matrimonial debts and a prepayment penalty where the agreement names them; others restrict funds to the departing owner’s equity. Silence generally means no.
• The treatment of support payments, clearly and durably; it decides whether you qualify.
• Who carries the mortgage in the interim, protecting both parties’ credit.

Nothing here is legal advice; a Nova Scotia family lawyer drafts the agreement.

The payment two incomes carried has to pass the the greater of the contract rate plus 2% and 5.25% stress test on one, inside 39% gross debt service and 44% total debt service, on a larger mortgage than before.

• Support you pay counts against total debt service at essentially every lender.
• Support you receive may count as income if durable and documented: in the agreement or a court order, with a history of receipt, continuing for years. Lenders differ most here.
• A co-signer or guarantor, commonly a parent, can be removed at a later renewal.
• A longer amortization lowers the qualifying payment; uninsured, most lenders allow up to 30 years.
• Credit unions are provincially regulated and set their own standards.

If none works, a short-term alternative mortgage can hold the property while income or credit is rebuilt. Sometimes selling is the better outcome, and you should hear that plainly. Test what one income reaches →

A buyout is a transfer of an interest in land, so the usual Nova Scotia closing costs apply: legal fees of roughly $850 to $1,000 plus disbursements, recording fees of $100 per document, an appraisal and, if the existing mortgage is broken mid-term, a penalty of the greater of three months’ interest and the interest rate differential.

Deed transfer tax between separating spouses depends on the structure and the municipality; exemptions can apply. HRM charges 1.5%, $7,200 on this example, so confirm with your lawyer. Every municipality’s rate → · Closing cost calculator →

Ask before the agreement is final. What you qualify for alone and what the buyout structure permits sets the range for the negotiation; then have the buyout amount, debts to settle and support terms written as the lender needs them.