How do I figure out spouse's amount of house in divorce?

if there is negative equity then you owe her nothing, but if the order says you are to give her the house then you need to deed it to her. most likely the Court apportioned her the debt if she got the house. there may have been other trade offs in the divorce. If you now want it, she would need to agree to give it to you, but you will need to take over the loan as well. consult you attorney and they can assist you with this.

First, I would recommend speaking with an attorney. The distribution of property in a divorce can be complicated and it is important to ensure that you are protecting your rights. With that being said, the amount you would have to pay in order to "buy her out" is determined by how much equity is in the property. In this case, the house is not worth as much as the outstanding loan balance, thus, if you were to sell the property you would owe money to the bank. The difference between the loan balance and the appraised value of the property will give you the marital debt in regards to this property. When negotiating terms of settlement, this debt amount will usually be split between the parties. Since you want to keep the house, you should be able to maintain ownership by agreeing to become solely liable for this marital debt. In order to do this, you will need to have the deed and promissory note changed into your name alone. This process can be complicated and may require you to refinance your mortgage. Consulting an attorney is your best bet in this situation, as I mentioned above, distributing property can be complicated even when the parties are in agreement. It can become a nightmare when there are disputes over how to distribute the property.

In a property distribution, if a judge rules that the parties shall divide everything 50/50, then the first step is to determine values. For a property, the value - liability = equity. Then essentially, the person keeping the house would have to pay the other person 50% of the equity to account for this marital interest. If the equity is a negative or $0, then no amount would need to be paid. However, the parties could be in dispute as to the value of the property. In that circumstance, an appraisal may need to occur. To further clarify your rights, I would highly recommend that you consult with a family law attorney as soon as possible.