Who gets what — and can you keep the house?
A separation splits the equity; a buyout means one of you stays and writes the other a cheque. Enter the split from your agreement — a percentage or a dollar figure — and see both sides’ shares, the cheque, and the new mortgage the staying spouse carries. The split itself comes from your agreement and your lawyers. We do the mortgage.
Your numbers
What it would appraise at now — not what you paid.
Everything secured against the home that gets cleared.
Some agreements deduct notional selling costs first. Many use $0 — whatever yours says.
How your agreement states the split
50 means an even split. The agreement sets this — not us.
Penalty, legal and appraisal costs — and on the conventional route, any other debts or amounts you're clearing, as long as the total stays under 80% of the value. On CMHC's insured route nothing extra can be added — see the note below.
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
The bar is the home’s full value; the fill is your new mortgage (72.9%). Ticks: the 80% conventional ceiling and the 92.9% insured buy-out ceiling.
Fits under the standard 80% ceiling — a refinance can usually go to 80% of the home’s value ($680,000 here). 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.
Monthly payment at your rate
$3,232 / mo
Tested at 6.79% (stress test)
$3,999 / mo
Carrying it alone means qualifying alone, on one income. Run your pay through the shift-income qualifier to see what one uniformed income carries.
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 can differ on that, and on who can buy out whom. And it isn’t a specialty product — the structure is broadly offered; 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; lender participation checked 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 page 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. Talk to Ramin about the mortgage side — ideally before the numbers get locked in.
The rules this runs on — and how the math was verified
The 80% ceiling is the standard federal refinance limit — the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada states you may usually borrow up to 80% of your home’s value, less what’s still owing (checked August 4, 2026). The insured equity buy-out route is separate and sourced from insurer underwriting policy (verified August 4, 2026): 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 balance), so 95% holds on homes to $500,000 and tapers to about 91.7% at $1,499,999, where the minimum down payment is about $125,000. Both parties currently on title, documentation (an agreement of purchase and sale, a finalized separation agreement, or a court order) and a full interior appraisal — available only in insured territory, under $1,499,999 — above that value the insured route doesn’t exist and buyouts are conventional: 80% ceiling, no insurance premium, no price cap. The insured route adds a mortgage default insurance premium to the loan. 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 — while private insurers can differ (confirmed with CMHC, February 2026). Payments use Canadian semi-annual compounding, and the stress-test rate is the greater of your rate + 2% and 5.25%.
The engine behind this page passes 103 automated checks — six fully hand-computed scenarios (even splits, uneven splits, dollar-figure agreements, negative equity, an agreement bigger than the equity, and both ceilings including a $9,000 narrow miss), the down-payment-tier identities for the insured ceiling, and payment math re-derived independently and confirmed by a month-by-month payoff simulation that must die to under a cent. Arithmetic last verified August 4, 2026. It’s an illustration built on public rules, not a quote, a commitment to lend, or legal advice.
One of the Mortgage Guru family’s 50+ free calculators — counted honestly. Working through a separation? The two questions officers ask most are answered here.