joint tenants with right of survivorship

[obxbell]

I own a house with my soon to be ex-fiance. We are vested as subject line reads. We have owned this home for over 5 years. We split household obligations and I have invested as much, if not more, than he has over the years into this house.
A couple of years ago, I was going to leave him and he consulted lawers and basically told me that he was going to screw me out of my equity and he could easily do it. I was under the impression that it was just 50/50. I didn't want to hire a lawyer because I've heard in these situations, lawyers will just drag it out so THEY can eat up our equity and the end result would still be 50/50.
Now that I'm ready to leave again and definitely this time, I'm wondering what I should do - should I consult a lawyer - do I have anything to worry about? We have a LOT of equity in this house and I want 50%, nothing less, nothing more.

 

[seniorjudge]

Obviously, the thing you want to do is have him buy you out.

If that doesn't work, then you will need to file a partition lawsuit which is long and expensive.

 

[obxbell]

That is my question - obvioulsy I want to have him buy me out - or we sell.
Last time, he offered to pay me MUCH less than half the equity of our equity.
This is my question - do I need to hire a lawyer just to get my HALF of the equity?

 

[lwpat]

Unless you are willing to accept what he offers, you will have to file suit. For that you need an attorney. Does that clear up SJ's reply for you?