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What Happens To Your House During A Divorce

For most divorcing couples, their main financial asset is their house. In most of those situations, the house is a marital asset that must be distributed in the divorce process. If the house is a marital asset there are three basic ways that the house can be distributed in the divorce:

  1. Selling the House: This is the simplest of the options, the divorcing spouses decide to sell the house to a third-party and each party typically would get 50% of the net profits.  In some situations, due to various other credits or other factors, the divorcing party may decide that one party receives more than 50% of the net profits.  As for who the house gets sold to, usually it is a third-party that neither divorcing spouse knows.  However, there are situations where the house will be sold to a close relative.
  1. Buy-Out:  Here, one spouse will “buy-out” the other spouse’s interest in the house.  That person completing the buy-out will then own the house free and clear, with the deed in their own name (or if they bought it with a third-party, in their name and the third-parties name).  If there was a mortgage, prior to the buy-out, then that mortgage would be fully satisfied and a new mortgage would be in the person completing the buy-out’s name.
  1. The Delayed Sale:  Typically, when there is a child involved, the Court and/or the parents may prefer to keep the house so that the child can remain living there until the child graduates from college.  In these situations, the divorce will be very specific on when the house can be sold.  At that time, either the house will be sold to a third-party (as in #1 above) or one party will buy-out the other party’s interest (as in #2 above).

In a delayed sale, it is extremely important to make sure that the following issues are addressed in the divorce:

  1. Who pays the mortgage?
  2. What happens if the person paying the mortgage is late in making those payments?
  3. Who pays for house repairs? House maintenance?
  4. What happens if a third-party puts a lien on the home?
  5. Can either party take out a home equity loan on the home?

David Badanes, Esq. is one of the few divorce attorneys who has also been an investor in real estate. He has experience to guide you in how to handle your home in a divorce. If you need an experienced divorce attorney with real estate experience to represent you in your divorce, call David Badanes, Esq. and the Badanes Law Office, P.C. today at 631-239-1702, email at david@dbnylaw.com or visit our web site: www.dbnylaw.com.

The Badanes Law Office has offices in Northport, Suffolk County and Uniondale, Nassau County.

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