Divorce Lending

Possibly, if the spouse keeping the house can qualify for the loan on their own income, though credit and the settlement terms matter too. The Lindley Team's Bri Lindley, a Certified Divorce Lending Professional (CDLP), starts with a conversation before the settlement is signed.

By The Lindley Team. Last updated October 19, 2026.

We can't tell you from this page whether you'll keep the house. Nobody can until the numbers have been run on one income, against the settlement you're being asked to sign. What we can do is run them early, while the settlement is still a draft and can still change.

Your attorney decides the settlement terms. We check whether the mortgage can carry them.

And one worry you can set down now. A lender looks at you as an individual applicant, and federal rules protect your right to credit in your own name whatever your marital status.

What is a CDLP, and when should you bring one in?

CDLP stands for Certified Divorce Lending Professional. Put plainly, it's a loan officer trained in where divorce and mortgages meet: the basics of family law, how property gets divided, and how a lender will treat the income in a settlement. The Divorce Lending Association issues the designation. The association was founded in 2014 and reports more than 1,000 certified professionals. Bri holds the designation.

A CDLP works on the lending side while the settlement is still a draft. The job is to test whether a buyout, or one spouse keeping the house, can be financed, to work out which settlement income will count toward qualifying, and to flag any settlement language a lender can't carry out. That's why the time to bring one in is before the settlement is signed, because after that the terms are what they are.

Can you keep the house? How a buyout refinance works

The divorce decree can give you the house. Federal law says a lender can't call the loan due just because the house passed to a spouse through a divorce decree or separation agreement.

In a buyout refinance, the spouse keeping the house takes a mortgage in their own name only, the old loan is paid off, and the other spouse is paid their share of the equity.

Fannie Mae sets the rules many conventional loans follow. Here's what it requires for a buyout that comes out of a divorce settlement:

What the rule says	Who it applies to	Source
It counts as a limited cash-out refinance if the house was jointly owned for at least 12 months before the new loan funds	The property	Fannie Mae Selling Guide B2-1.3-02
Everyone involved signs a written agreement stating the terms of the transfer and where the refinance money goes	Both spouses	Fannie Mae Selling Guide B2-1.3-02
The spouse keeping the house qualifies for the new loan on their own	The keeping spouse	Fannie Mae Selling Guide B2-1.3-02
The spouse keeping the house can't receive any of the refinance proceeds	The keeping spouse	Fannie Mae Selling Guide B2-1.3-02
An appraisal sets the value the buyout is figured from	The property	The Lindley Team

Here's how the equity math works. This is an illustration, not a quote. A home worth $600,000 with a $300,000 mortgage has $300,000 in equity, so each spouse's share is $150,000. The spouse keeping the house would refinance for $450,000: the $300,000 mortgage plus the $150,000 buyout. Your real numbers start with the appraisal.

The buyout path, step by step

1. A conversation with Bri. We start with the whole financial picture before we recommend anything.
2. Mortgage analysis. We look at whether each of you can qualify on your own, including income, credit, debts and equity, and we write a Real Property Detail Report for your attorney.
3. Settlement support. We work with your legal team so the mortgage terms in the settlement are ones a lender can fund.
4. The buyout refinance. Once the divorce is final, we carry out the plan: the buyout refinance, a new purchase, or both. From the first conversation on, we manage the file, which covers the documents (the decree or draft, financial disclosures, pay stubs and tax returns), the appraisal and the timing.

When the answer is no

A buyout refinance is a new loan, and new loans have closing costs. Qualifying on one income is harder than qualifying on two. If the spouse keeping the house can't qualify alone, the answer is no, and we'll tell you so before the settlement is signed, while there's still time to change it. A house can also be possible on paper and too tight to live with on one income, and we'll tell you that too. The timeline depends on the divorce itself, which nobody on the lending side controls.

Can you qualify using alimony or child support?

Yes, if it meets the rules. Fannie Mae's guideline asks for four things. The payments have to be expected to continue for at least three years from the date you apply. You need at least six months of full, regular, on-time payments already received. A court decree or separation agreement has to show the amount and the terms. And the payments have to show up as received, in bank statements, cancelled checks or electronic records.

A one-time payment that evens out the property split is different. Fannie Mae calls it a lump-sum equalization payment, and it doesn't count as steady income.

So if your support has only just started, the six months may not be there yet, and that affects when you can apply. It's one of the things we look at in the first conversation.

Should you refinance before or after the divorce is final?

The analysis comes first, and it can start before the divorce is final. The refinance itself happens after, once the decree spells out the terms. The order matters because whatever the settlement says about the house has to be something a lender can fund. An agreement can look good on paper and still be impossible to finance, and that's much easier to fix while it's a draft.

If you're the spouse buying a new home, the same timing holds. You can start as soon as the divorce is final, and if the terms are clear enough, the pre-approval can sometimes begin during the divorce.

What we do differently

Bri reads the draft settlement against what can be funded. She writes the Real Property Detail Report your attorney works from. And the team manages the file from the first conversation to closing, so the documents, the appraisal and the dates are ours to track.

Talk with Bri before the settlement is final

Talk with Bri before the settlement is final. There's no charge for the consultation.

Sources

All retrieved October 19, 2026.

• Fannie Mae Selling Guide B2-1.3-02, Limited Cash-Out Refinance Transactions (dated 10/08/2025): https://selling-guide.fanniemae.com/sel/b2-1.3-02/limited-cash-out-refinance-transactions
• Fannie Mae Selling Guide B3-3.4-02, Alimony, Child Support, Equalization Payments, or Separate Maintenance (topic dated 10/07/2026): https://selling-guide.fanniemae.com/sel/b3-3.4-02/alimony-child-support-equalization-payments-or-separate-maintenance
• 12 U.S.C. 1701j-3(d)(7), via Cornell Legal Information Institute: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/12/1701j-3
• Regulation B, 12 CFR 1002.7, Rules concerning extensions of credit, CFPB: https://www.consumerfinance.gov/rules-policy/regulations/1002/7/
• Divorce Lending Association: https://www.divorcelendingassociation.com/

CDLP® is a registered certification mark of the Divorce Lending Association. This page is not legal advice; your attorney decides the terms of your settlement.

The Lindley Team at Movement Mortgage, LLC. Movement Mortgage, LLC is an Equal Housing Lender. NMLS ID #39179 (www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org). David Chandler NMLS #265974 - Brianna Lindley NMLS #1367416. Interest rates and products are subject to change without notice and may not be available at the time of loan commitment or rate lock. This is not a commitment to lend; terms and conditions apply; not all applicants will qualify. Licensed in OR & WA. Movement Mortgage, LLC, 10135 SE Sunnyside Rd, Suite 125, Clackamas, OR 97015.