Dealing with a breakup has never been easy. This is mainly because a lot of disputes over various issues may occur down the road. For most couples, it is difficult to divide their property, especially when it comes to their family home. If you and your spouse plan on landing a divorce website to get divorce papers for mutual divorce, then you probably want to divide your real estate amicably. Read on to learn more about your options.
What is Going to Happen to Your Living Quarters?
The dwelling where you and your spouse live with your kids is probably one of your greatest shared assets that have to be divided along the way. There are a few ways to resolve this issue amicably:
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Put your dwelling up for sale and split the proceeds fairly;
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Negotiate a buyout of the house so that one party can buy another party’s equity out;
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If you have minors, you can be co-owners.
If you and your spouse have already found the best divorce service, it is time to decide whether or not you want to sell your family home and, if not, then who will keep it. If your couple fails to resolve this issue amicably, then it will be resolved in court. Usually, there are a few factors that may impact the court’s decision. Since every divorce is different, it is advisable to consult with an expert who will help you get a better understanding of your specific case.
Steps to Take First
To decide who will get a piece of real estate, it is crucial to find out how much it is worth first. You should realize that an assessed value of your house is much lower than its actual value; therefore, it makes sense to get a real estate agent who will do necessary calculations and determine exactly how much your house is worth at the moment. As soon as the valuation is made, you can work out the amount of your home equity. The latter is the value of your family home excluding the sum that must be paid on a mortgage. Simply stated, it is what you get if you sell your real estate right away.
What Kind of Property is There?
You cannot decide on who will get and what until you determine which real estate is marital and which one is individual. The latter is everything acquired by one party before the marriage was effected or everything that was gifted during marital life. If someone purchased an apartment long before things got legal, then this person is more likely to get it after a split, especially if the last mortgage payment has already been made. However, if the mortgage was paid off out of a family budget, then another party is likely to be awarded an additional piece of marital property as an off-set against their share of the dwelling.
Individual property may be combined with marital one and therefore is treated as the latter. This principle is called comingling. Let us say, imagine that you buy an apartment with a minimal payment and enter into marriage a few months later. If you and your spouse share space over many years paying for the quarters out of your family budget, then it is very likely that the court will consider your real estate as marital property. So, before the court makes a final decision, it will give consideration to various factors.
Children in Common
Ashley Powell, a writer at Pro-Papers, therapist, and online divorce specialist, says that it is much easier to divide a house when there are kids involved in a case. Truth be told, if there are kids in common, the court usually gives living quarters to the party who is granted physical custody of the little ones. Since your breakup is very hard on your kids, the court will prefer to retain the status quo as far as possible. That is why it is more likely that the right to keep the house will be granted to the parent who will stay with the kids.
Two Methods of Dividing Your Living Quarters
Your real estate can be divided using one of two methods. While most states turn to equitable distribution, others stick to a community property scheme and state that spouses should go fifty-fifty no matter who provided for the family. Under the equitable distribution laws, everything must be divided “equitably”. Even though it doesn’t mean 50/50, it is usually so. Given the said, the chances are that you will divide your home half-and-half.
Selling Your Family Home
As long as you go fifty-fifty with everything that your couple owns, one of you can buy another party’s share out and keep the house. But if none of you is willing to stay in the dwelling, you will have to sell it. It is perfectly normal that you don’t want to live in your marital home after divorce: you may have many reasons for putting your house up for sale, including emotional ones. Even though it is better if you and your soon-to-be-ex pull together to divide your property in a way that will be satisfactory to all, consulting with an attorney who will be able to explain all the benefits of every option to you will make sense anyway.
