Selling or dividing the family home after a divorce

Selling your home before or after divorce

Everything you need to know about selling before or after a divorce or separation.

One of the main assets that you may have both invested in throughout your relationship is your property, so what happens to it?

Do I have to sell my house in a divorce?

This will be one of the first questions that you may have, is it guaranteed that you have to sell the house in a divorce?

Well, not necessarily but it’s likely. There are a few options and some of them result in you being able to keep the house during a divorce:

• You can buy your ex-partners share outright, but you may need a significant amount of savings or a large loan to do this

• The property can be sold and profits divided

• You can simply sign the house over to one another by changing the names on the titles

• You can file a deferment of sale which is called a Mesher, which will allow you to keep the house up until a particular agreed event

• You can file for a Martin order, allowing both parties to own the property but one person can stay in the house

Who gets the house in a divorce?

Most divorce cases end in the house getting sold, and simply with each party receiving an equal share, which if you can agree to do without legal proceedings will save you a lot of hassle and expense.

If none of you can agree on the terms or the share of the equity split then it will have to go to court. Having a legal dispute may result in both of you not getting the desired outcome.

If you have children this can also further complicate things as the court will decide on what to do with based around the children.

The result of this is often decided on what will cause the minimum amount of disruption to their life, the last thing the court will want to do is uproot them and cause problems, which will determine what happens to the property.

How is the house divided in a divorce?

Unfortunately, as you may have guessed from the above, there’s no set formula as to dividing the house in a divorce or separation and it can come down to a host of different factors including:

• Your income will be taken into account

• The other assets you own or financial resources

• The financial needs, responsibilities or obligation of each spouse

• Your age

• Duration of marriage

• The welfare of children

As well as several other conditions!

What steps do I need to take when selling a house during divorce?

The first steps you should take when looking to sell your house during a divorce or separation is simply to talk it over with your ex-partner, if you can come up with an amicable way to sell your home together, agreeing on a sale price and strategy then this is always the best outcome.

If you can’t, then you should contact a solicitor and get their advice on next steps.

As it is likely you will need to sell your home, here are the typical steps:

• Get your home valued

• Select an estate agent

• Put your property on popular property portals

• Wait for offers

However, you may also want to consider a Sell House Fast service like ours. It can take months to sell your property on the open market, and we can buy it in 7 days, allowing you to move on with your life.

Should I sell my home before or after the divorce is finalised?

If your ex is willing to work with you then you can sell whenever best suits, which may be prior to the divorce.

If however they are being difficult then you may have to go down the legal route, which will mean you can only sell the home once the divorce is finalised.

As for whether you should sell it before or after, it depends on your personal preference and if you are able to agree with each other on a plan.

It’s worth keeping in mind that If you go down the method of a traditional sale, it may take months to sell.

Who makes the mortgage payments?

You need to ensure that the mortgage is still getting paid as you can still be repossessed when going through a divorce.

If it’s a joint mortgage you will both be responsible for the repayments, however if it’s in one of your names then that person will be responsible.

How should you sell the property?

Divorce and splitting assets is a tricky subject, but as mentioned previously a large majority of the time you will need to sell the property. Selling the property in a divorce leaves you with three main options:

• Open Market – This is the most traditional way of selling, through an estate agent. This can take quite a while and you will also have to work out how you will both cover the fees.

• Auction – This could be a good solution but is usually only beneficial to certain kinds of properties, it can also take quite a while to actually put your property into an auction and get it auction ready.

• Sell House Fast – This is a service we offer. We can buy your house in 7 days and we’ll cover all the fees which can help during a divorce or separation. Our service means you can very quickly move on.

We can act as a mediator between partners