Keep your home.
Start fresh.
Separating Ontario homeowners have more ways to keep the home than they are told. Whatever your home is worth, and whatever a bank already said, there is usually a path worth checking.
Helping Ontario homeowners through one of life's hardest transitions since 2007 Licensed by the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario
Five ways a spousal buyout mortgage can go
Every separation is different, and so is the mortgage answer. These are the five paths my files actually take.
The insured 95% buyout. If your home is under $1.5 million and you can qualify on your own income, a federally insured program lets you refinance up to 95% of the home's value to buy out your ex. It is one of the most underexplained mortgage products in Canada.
How the 95% program works →The conventional buyout for higher-value homes. Above $1.5 million the insured program does not apply, but these homes usually carry serious equity, and a standard refinance at 80% often covers the buyout on its own. The math surprises people.
What if your home is worth more than $1.5 million? →The second opinion after a "no." Banks decline separation files every day based on an incomplete income picture or one lender's rules. Alternative lenders qualify differently, and a one or two year term can be a bridge back to a bank later. A "no" is a data point, not a verdict.
The bank said no. Now what? →Selling and restarting, on your terms. Sometimes selling really is the right call, and it goes far better planned than forced. I help with the timing, the math, and the mortgage on whatever comes next, for one or both of you.
When selling is the right move →Clearing joint debt in the same step. Joint credit cards and lines of credit written into your separation agreement can be paid out inside the refinance. One transaction, one payment, a cleaner start.
Common questions →Not sure which one is you? That is exactly what the free call is for.
Book a free callThe program almost no one explains
When a separation involves a jointly-owned home, the default assumption from many lawyers, banks, and financial advisors is that the home will be sold and the proceeds divided. For some couples, that's the right path. For many, it's not.
Canada has a federally insured mortgage program designed specifically for this situation. It allows one spouse to refinance and buy out the other's share with as little as 5% equity in the home, the same loan-to-value as a first-time buyer purchase. The staying spouse keeps the home, the leaving spouse receives their settlement, and the family stays anchored. Most homeowners are never told it exists.
What this looks like in practice
Free discovery call (30 min)
We talk through your situation. What's the home worth? Whose name is on title? What income do you have now, and what will change post-separation? You leave with a clear sense of whether the program is a fit, and what to do about it if it is.
Application & approval
If you decide to move forward, I handle the lender shopping, the application paperwork, and the back-and-forth with underwriters. You provide documents. I do the rest. Typical timeline: 30 to 45 days from application to approval.
Closing & buyout
Your lawyer handles the title transfer and the payout to your ex. The new mortgage funds. You keep the home. I stay involved through closing and remain available afterward.
Is this you?
You're separating, you own a home together, and you want to stay in it: for your kids, for stability, because moving feels like one loss too many. Someone has told you you'll have to sell. You're not sure if that's true.
You've already been to your bank. They've said you don't qualify on a single income. You're starting to look at rentals. You haven't been told that "the bank's answer" isn't always "the answer."
You're early in the separation conversation, maybe a few weeks in, and you're trying to understand what's possible before you make decisions you can't undo. A friend mentioned that there are mortgage programs for this. You're doing your homework.
If you're common-law and only one partner is on title, the standard spousal buyout program typically doesn't apply, but there are still options worth a conversation.
About Tamara
I started in the mortgage industry in 2007 and have been licensed as a broker in Ontario since 2018. Over those years I've worked with thousands of homeowners: first-time buyers, refinancers, renewals, investment properties, and increasingly, families navigating separation.
The reason I focus on spousal buyouts is simple: I kept seeing the same pattern. Capable people, often in the middle of the hardest year of their lives, getting bad information from professionals who meant well but didn't know the program existed. By the time I met them, options had narrowed. Sometimes I could still help. Sometimes I couldn't.
So I built a practice specifically for this situation, with the goal of meeting people earlier, before the title gets transferred, before they sign a lease, before they accept that selling is the only option.
If you're somewhere in that window, I'd like to help.
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Common questions
Do I need my ex's cooperation to apply?
Usually, yes. Your ex needs to sign off on the title transfer portion of the paperwork. But the financial qualifying is on you alone.
If you can carry the mortgage on your own income, plus any other allowable income sources we can include (spousal support, Canada Child Benefit, rental income from a basement suite, consistent side-business income with two years of CRA filings), the program can move forward. Finding all the eligible income is a meaningful part of what I do.
Can I use a co-signer if my income doesn't fully qualify?
In many cases, yes. Parents, siblings, or adult children can co-sign. The co-signer has to qualify too, but their income expands what's possible.
What if we're common-law and only one of us is on title?
The 95% LTV program typically requires both partners to be on title at the time of separation. If only one of you is, the program in its standard form doesn't apply, but other refinance and equity strategies can still work. Worth a conversation.
Does spousal support count as income for qualifying?
Yes, with proper documentation (separation agreement, history of payments). Canada Child Benefit, rental income, and consistent side-business income (with two years of CRA filings) can also count.
How long does the buyout process take?
From first call to funded: typically 30 to 45 days, sometimes faster, sometimes slower depending on complexity.
Do I have to use the program, or can you help me find other options?
I'll help you understand what's actually possible, including whether selling really is the right move. If the program is a fit, great. If not, I can point you to other paths. The call is genuinely no-pressure.
What if my home is worth more than $1.5 million?
The insured 95% program will not apply, since insured mortgages cap at $1.5 million. But higher-value homes usually carry enough equity that a conventional refinance at 80% covers the buyout. Whether it works comes down to qualifying on your income, and that is a call worth having before you assume anything.
What if my bank already said no?
A bank's no is one lender's answer to one version of your file. Income often gets undercounted (support payments, benefits, side income), and alternative lenders apply different rules than banks do. Many funded buyouts started as someone else's no.
Most decisions about the home happen in the first 30 days of separation.
If you're somewhere in that window, the free call exists for a reason.
Book a free 30-minute call