Most divorces involve selling the family home. There may be compelling reasons for this even if you wish to keep your primary residence for the sake of the children or due to your emotional attachment to it. Some of the reasons that may compel you to sell the house include:
Division of Property
All marital assets must be divided during a divorce, and this includes the family's home. Since you can't physically divide a home, the available options include selling it to divide the proceeds or buying a partner's stake in the property. The latter option is ideal, but it can only happen if one of you has the resources to make it happen. Otherwise, you will have to sell the house in order to divide it.
Settling Legal Fees
If you aren't careful, you can incur huge divorce fees that you may not be able to settle with your liquid cash. In fact, you may have to sell your prized assets, such as the house, to settle the bills. This may be the case, for example if you can't mediate or collaborate on your divorce and have to litigate it. You can avoid this by keeping your divorce costs low, for example, by:
Financial Rehabilitation Costs
If one of you was not working, then may need to pay for his or her financial rehabilitation. This is what is known as rehabilitative alimony. For example, maybe you were a housewife, and you don't have the resources to get back on your feet financially. If you don't have the resources, then you may need to sell the house so that you can finance your education or set up a business – anything that can enhance your earning capacity.
Financing Another House
If you decide to keep the house, then one of you (most likely the one with the primary custody of the kids) lives in it while the other one looks for another residence. This is an ideal arrangement, but it only works if you have the finances. Don't forget that your combined income will need to maintain the family home (this includes making mortgage payments) and the other partner's house too. This may be costly, so it may make more sense to sell the family home (especially if it is big) and use the proceeds to get two smaller places.
As you can see, a common thread through all these things is the issue of finance. This is why you should do your best to avoid emotional decisions during your divorce. Let your lawyer help you to analyze and decide on each issue based on your best interests.
Share14 July 2015
When I began the divorce process, I knew that I wanted to change my name back to my maiden name. I no longer wanted to be associated with the family name of the man that I was divorcing. The problem was, I have three kids that all had their father's name. I wanted to know if I would be able to change their last names to my maiden name rather than having them carry that family's name for the rest of their lives. I found out a lot about what it would take and began working to create this blog to help other women wanting to do the same thing.
