HUD changed reverse mortgage rules to protect non-borrowing spouses, usually younger partners. Previously they could be forced out of the home after the primary borrower died. Now they can stay for life if they keep paying property taxes and insurance.
We as an industry had a, a real problem where non-borrowing spouses were not being protected. What that means is, say you've got a primary borrower that's age 62. We would allow for you to take a reverse mortgage even if that person at the time was married to someone younger. Now the problem was, is that non-borrowing spouse had no protections at all, and the whole program had to go through basically a rewrite in the guidelines to attack these issues that we were having as an industry. So HUD had altered their guidelines to now protect non-borrowing spouses. And this happened years ago. So no, you're not going to get kicked out of your house if you're married at the time you take a reverse mortgage and you are not 62, even though the younger spouse might not be a borrower to the transaction. We are now protecting that spouse for their lifetime in the home. The younger spouse can still stay in the home for as long as they are living and maintaining the taxes and the homeowner's insurance.
