Low drama divorce after 19 year marriage.  As part of achieving a rough 50/50 division of assets, we are both agreeable to her keeping the house in exchange for me keeping a couple of retirement accounts (401K, IRA, Roth, etc).  House has $750K equity and $200K debt (11 yrs left on mortgage). 

This arrangement would require me to pay off the mortgage, since she can’t qualify for a mortgage based on her income.  The idea would be to pay the monthly mortgage over the next 71 months and then make a balloon payment in month 71 to close out the mortgage (IRS 6 year rule?).  My name will remain on the title until mortgage payoff (not great for either of us), but both of us are willing to accept this risk.  My cashflow is good enough that I’m not worried about covering mortgage or balloon pmt. Me paying off the mortgage would be in lieu of spousal support payments.

Selling the house isn’t an option we like since both of us would end up in HCOL housing, lose the low interest, move with high school kids etc.  Better for someone to keep it than no one.

Not ideal I know but how do we best structure this agreement in a way that is fair and protects us as much as possible?