[quote]Frankly I am not sure why everyone here talks about these $85k.
First of all, my ex-parents have nothing to do with that.
Secondly, this is money that served as a down-payment and the equity in the house is gone.
If I had bought a $50k car for both myself and my wife with pre-marriage money and then crashed a car into a wall resulting in a total loss, would I get $50k back from my wife after divorce? Obviously not.
The loss of the car is an analogy to the loss of value in the real estate property. The value is gone so there is nothing for me to claim.[/quote]
What if you bought a $50k car with pre-marriage money and _she_ crashed a car, would you still be OK writing off that loss?
Loss of equity should be divided equally between you and your wife. But if you forget about those 85k, you lose your entire contribution towards down payment (115k) but your wife only loses 30k. Do you think it’s fair?