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Case Study · Residential / Prime
Buying Out a Former Partner in Grand Forks: A Major-Bank Refinance at 60% Put the Home in One Name
Our client and a former common-law partner owned a five-bedroom home on a quarter-acre lot in Grand Forks, BC, worth about $500,000, with a legal basement suite and a mortgage of about $80,000. Both agreed the client would keep the house.
Closed in 2023 · Published October 17, 2026
Residential
Prime lender
Refinance
Spousal buyout
Separation
Rental suite
Home value
about $500,000
Old mortgage
about $80,000
New mortgage
about $300,000
Loan-to-value
60%
Credit score
900
01
The Situation
Our client and a former common-law partner owned a five-bedroom home on a quarter-acre lot in Grand Forks, BC, worth about $500,000, with a legal basement suite and a mortgage of about $80,000. Both agreed the client would keep the house.
02
The Challenge
Buying out the other owner needed a new mortgage large enough to pay out the existing one and the former partner's share, on one income, with the title changing to the client alone.
03
The Solution
In 2023 we placed the refinance with a major Canadian bank: about $300,000, 60% of the value, on a three-year fixed term at about 5.1% with a 30-year amortization. More than ten years with one employer, income of about $77,500 on a two-year average and a perfect 900 credit score carried the file at debt-service ratios under 38%. The lawyer paid out the old mortgage and the former partner from the proceeds.
04
The Outcome
The home is in one name, the payment fits one income, and the basement suite can be rented later, when the client moves upstairs, adding a second income built into the house.
Run the numbers
Spousal Buyout Calculator
This refinance bought out a former partner's share of the home. Cost a buyout against selling on your own numbers.
What it would appraise at now — not what you paid for it.
$
Everything secured against the home that gets cleared.
$
Some agreements deduct notional selling costs before splitting. Many use $0 — whatever yours says.
How your agreement states the split
The split comes from your separation agreement and your lawyers — never from this tool. We do the arithmetic on what was decided.
%
Debts cleared in the buyout
Joint cards, lines, loans — each with its own split of responsibility, because it often isn’t 50/50. The split comes from your agreement.
Room left under the 80% conventional ceiling right now: $60,000 — the most that can still be rolled in before the line.
A lump sum in the agreement
An equalization payment, support arrears — a one-time amount owed either way. “They” is the departing spouse.
$
Penalty, legal and appraisal costs — plus any other debts or amounts you're clearing: under 80% of value that's the conventional route, and past it the insured buy-out route can carry shared debts through the private insurers (CMHC's version is equity-only). The tool shows the room left under each ceiling. Estimate the penalty with the Mortgage Penalty calculator.
%
yrs
Net equity to split
$460,000
Home value − mortgage balance.
Stays in the home
$230,000
50.0% of the equity — it stays in the house rather than being paid out.
Leaves with
$230,000
Paid as a cheque of $230,000 at closing.
The new mortgage — for the spouse who stays
Current balance cleared$390,000
Buyout cheque$230,000
New mortgage$620,000
Against the home’s value72.9%
Fits under the standard 80% ceiling— a refinance can usually go to 80% of the home’s value ($680,000 here), and there’s $60,000 of room left under that line. This is the conventional route, where most buyouts land, and it works for insured and uninsured files alike. Whether the file works comes down to income.
Not just for spouses.Any co-owner can be bought out this way — CMHC’s own name for its program is “dissolution of relationship,” and it covers anyone on title: a parent buying out a child, siblings, friends, former partners. One boundary to know: at CMHC, the insured financing can cover only the departing owner’s share — nothing extra rolled in — while the private insurers take shared debts on qualifying files, and can differ on who can buy out whom. And it isn’t a specialty product: every lender we’ve asked participates. Which insurer and lender your file lands with is a placement decision, and that’s our job. Confirmed with CMHC, February 2026; private-insurer debt treatment and lender participation confirmed August 4, 2026.
The professionals rule:a lawyer for the legal advice, a mortgage broker for the mortgage, an accountant for the tax — and try not to make these decisions alone. This tool does honest arithmetic on the agreement you already have; it is not legal advice, and it can’t tell you what the split should be. The 80% ceiling is the standard federal refinance limit (Financial Consumer Agency of Canada — checked August 4, 2026); the insured equity buy-out route is sourced from insurer underwriting policy — treated as a purchase, up to 95% by program, with the real ceiling set by the federal minimum down payment (5% of the first $500,000 + 10% of the rest — so 95% holds to $500,000 and tapers to about 91.7% at $1,499,999), both parties on title, a purchase agreement, finalized separation agreement or court order, and a full appraisal (verified August 4, 2026; insured territory only — above $1,499,999 of value the insured route doesn’t exist and buyouts go conventional: 80% ceiling, no insurance premium, no price cap; the insured route adds a mortgage default insurance premium). Insurers differ on what that route can include — at CMHC it covers only the departing owner’s interest, no new funds for any other reason (confirmed with CMHC, February 2026), while the private insurers take shared debts on qualifying files (confirmed directly, August 4, 2026). Shared debts and lump sums come from the agreement too — each debt’s split nets out of the departing cheque, the balances ride into the mortgage (past 80%, through a private insurer), and an equalization or support-arrears lump moves the cheque dollar for dollar, in either direction. Debts and rolled-in costs are checked against both ceilings live — the tool shows the room left under the 80% line and the tiered insured ceiling, and past them it says what has to be settled outside the mortgage. Arithmetic verified by 180 automated checks, August 4, 2026.
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What this calculator does that most don't
✓Takes the split exactly as your separation agreement states it — a percentage of the net equity OR an agreed dollar figure — and shows both sides to the dollar, instead of assuming 50/50
✓Prices the staying spouse's real next step: old balance + buyout cheque + any penalty and legal costs rolled in, checked against BOTH ceilings — the standard 80% refinance limit and the insured equity buy-out route (95% by program, trimmed by the federal minimum-down tiers above $500,000 — verified against insurer underwriting policy) — with the overshoot in dollars
✓Shows the payment twice — at your rate AND at the stress-test rate a lender actually tests one income against
✓Flags the states most tools hide: negative equity, and an agreed figure bigger than the equity that exists
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Want a real plan, not just an estimate?
Talk to a Mortgage Guru specialist about your spousal buyout numbers and get tailored next steps.
Calculators give estimates. We give exact numbers — based on your income, credit, and the lender most likely to say yes. Free, no obligation, same-day reply.
Can you buy out a former common-law partner on one income?+
This client did, in 2023, with a major Canadian bank: a refinance of about $300,000, 60% of the home's value, paid out the old mortgage of about $80,000 and the former partner's share, and the title moved to the client alone.
How was the income qualified?+
On income of about $77,500 averaged over two years, with more than ten years at one employer and a perfect 900 credit score, at debt-service ratios under 38%.
What were the terms?+
About $300,000 on a three-year fixed term at about 5.1% in 2023, with a 30-year amortization.
Who paid the former partner?+
The lawyer, from the refinance proceeds, at the same time as paying out the old mortgage.
What about the basement suite?+
The home has a legal basement suite. It can be rented later, when the client moves upstairs, adding a second income built into the house.
