The Debt is against the original debtor, personally.  

Do they have debt or are these free and clear?

The biggest pitfalls I have seen among many of my peers while growing up in my 20s is that they tend to either get wrapped up in student loan debt, other debt, or lose aspiration in exchange for financial contentment.

Both parties have the ability, if push comes to shove, to pay off the debt or refinance, if the other party breaches that trust. 

So I for one think the 30k number in 20 years is a very realistic number to have to live a very nice lifestyle as long as you have no debt or minimal debt. health insurance auto insurance TAx on your home and utls food clothing etc is going to run folks at least 5 to 7k a month.. so what great life is one going to have on 3k a month.

If you've done a cash-out refinance this year, what did you use the money for—home improvements, paying off debt, or something else?

All the attorney will do is call a judgement recovery company.Just go straight to the judgement recovery company.They will want 50% as well.Talking to a judgement they have told me there experience is it takes years to collect anything substantial.Per federal law you can only garnish a certain percentage of the paycheck at a time.If you have a strong debtor owing the money with a good job the judgement company could buy you out for 20 cents on the dollar (about 3,000) today and let them deal with it.If the judgment company feels the tenant is judgment proof or will file imminent BK to wipe it out they will only agree to partner on it with you if that.

Usually partners, capital partners want to see prior performance before being a debt or equity partner. 

My dad taught me decent financials growing up and I'm the only one in my family who hasn't made a financially poor decision(some sort of bad debt or bankruptcy.)

Definition = a cash-out refi is typically defined as a refinance loan (i.e. taking a loan on a property already owned - either w/o debt or concurrently paying off old debt) where after closing costs, cash goes into the borrower's pocket.Typically above a threshold like $2,000A refinance loan where the borrower doesn't get any cash or is under the threshold (Example new $510,000 loan pays off $500,000 loan and $10k closing costs = net zero to borrower) is called a: Rate-Term RefinanceWhy are cash-out refinances such a powerful tool for real estate investors?