The housing market has gotten tough. Prices have been rising consistently, and they may not show any signs of slowing down in your area. You know that it would be difficult to go out and buy a house right now.
For this reason, as you go through a divorce, you have decided that you want to try to keep your home. You do not want to lose such a valuable asset in this housing market. Is this possible?
How is ownership divided?
The big question to ask is how ownership is set up to start. If you purchased the house before the marriage, it may be a separate asset. This means it does not have to go through property division in the first place and you will get to keep the house.
If you and your spouse bought the house together, though, then it is a marital asset. It does have to go through property division because your spouse has a claim to 50% of that value.
Even in this case, you can keep the house. You simply need to buy that ownership share from your spouse and then refinance the mortgage. You may be able to buy their ownership directly if you have access to funds. If that is too expensive, you may be able to trade other marital assets, like investments or a retirement benefits package.
Dividing property in divorce
Deciding what to do with the house is just one part of splitting up property while you get a divorce. Be sure you know exactly what legal steps to take.