If you get divorced, you need to divide your assets with your spouse. For many things, this can be fairly simple. You can divide up financial assets like bank accounts or investments. You can split up the physical assets that you’ve purchased.
But what about a major asset like a family home? You have three basic options, which are detailed below.
Sell the house
First of all, the easiest tactic is to sell the house. Once you’ve done so, the two of you can simply see how much you earned in the sale and divide that money. Many people like this because they then use the money as a down payment on another home or apartment as they move on with their life.
Buy the other half
If you’d like to keep the house but your spouse wants to sell, you can always buy their half from them. This may require getting a new mortgage, of course. It may also require giving up other assets that you wanted to keep. But it is possible.
Continue to share the ownership
Finally, there are some rather rare situations in which it may be preferable for you to own your home together. An example of this could be if you have high school-aged children who don’t want to move until they graduate. It is possible to do this, as homeownership is not technically tied to marriage.
Divorce and property division can be complicated. No matter what you decide to do, be sure you know what legal steps to take.