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Do’s and Don’ts of Selling Your Home During a Divorce
Going through a divorce brings on extreme emotions and having to deal with selling a home is one of the last things you’d want. The sale of a house usually comes because one of the two involved can’t afford it. The same income that went to support one household is now going to two households, and the cost of divorce can be outlandish. The cost isn’t limited to lawyers’ fees. One spouse has to find new furniture, health insurance plan, cell phone plan and the list goes on and on, and the expenses can pile up.
-Do Act like this is a business decision.
This is a business decision, and the decisions you make now will affect your future. How you rebound from this divorce is directly related to the decisions you make when you are in the divorce.
-Do Take everything when you move out
If you are the spouse moving out of the house, take everything with you right away.
Don’t necessarily think you will go back without a court order. If someone is thinking of divorcing and thinking of leaving, take everything that is yours with the anticipation that you aren’t going back. Many times the spouse comes back to get their stuff and the locks are changed, alarms are on, dogs are bought.
-Do Take care of yourself
Through all the court dates, the doubts and the anger, self-care will become very important. You need your strength and best wits about you. You also need to believe that your best days are ahead. Believe that this too shall pass.
-Don’t play chess with your assets
In many contentious divorces, the marital home can become a source of revenge, strife and sometimes financial ruin. That once important financial asset to the couple now becomes a chess piece.
-Don’t sabotage your own profits
Many times, one spouse does not want to sell the house, but there is a court order to do so. That anger causes the devil to come out and ruin parts of the house – or they sabotage an open house by not keeping the house clean.
One time, a wife had to be evicted during the escrow process. She sabotaged the sale, and the court sanctioned her. She had to pay her husband’s attorney fees now. It’s just dumb.
-Don’t be married to the house
Do not remain married to the mortgage either. If one person can’t refinance the mortgage, then sell the property.
You are paying a lawyer to be smart for you, but some lawyers and even judges think that if you sign off on the title then you are signing off on the mortgage. This is not the case, both spouses are still responsible for the mortgage if it is not paid.
