Q.  Can you please help.  I understand a Moore-Marsden analysis needs to be performed on my house in my pending divorce, but I don't understand what it is my attorney is telling me. 

Frederic:

Here is an illustration of how the calculation works. Please see my FAQ on Moore Marsden generally. As you can see, it is complicated. You will need a forensic accountant and you may want a real estate expert because fair market values need to be fixed at various dates. Your situation is even more complicated because you placed her on title. The simplest Moore-Marsden situation deals with a property owned in the name of one spouse throughout the marriage, where marital earnings are used to pay the mortgage down - the fundamental concept is that the community should get some reimbursement for this, which comes back as a share in the appreciation and reduced principal obligation. 
 
You will need to get:

• the mortgage payoff balances on the date of marriage;
• the mortgage payoff balance on date of the transmutation (when your wife went on title)
• the payoff balance at date of separation
• and you will need a mortgage balance near the date of your trial

I want to mention that all transmutations that favor one spouse and disadvantage the other, like putting her on the deed on 1/1/02, are subject to a claim that they should be set aside. This is because there is a presumption that your Wife exerted undue influence upon you - please research my fiduciary duty blog articles using the on-site search engine if this interests you.

Therefore, one scenario is:

Assuming                                                                $   54,875     dowppayment
and                                                                                6,836     (paydown before M) 
(you will need the mortgage statements)                        25,125     appreciation before M 
and                                                                             (20,197)    principal reduction  during M

then:                                                                           $54,875 [DP] PLUS $89,803
[SP Loan of $110,000 minus $20,197 CP payments] 
 = $144,678 DIVIDED BY $164,875 [purchase price]
= 's a 87.75 SP Interest

and                                                

$20,197 divided by $164,875 =' a 12.25% CP interest