During marriage, you and your spouse likely worked together to build security for your future.

The financial stress of a divorce, unfortunately, can sometimes put a severe dent in the assets that you worked to build. Where you and your spouse have spent time sharing responsibilities, including financial responsibility for household bills, divorce means that you will each have to stand alone financially. The home you shared is often the largest asset to be divided in the divorce. In some cases, one of the spouses can afford to keep the house and buy the other spouse out.  However, in many others, neither spouse can afford to keep the home without the other spouse.  If neither you nor your spouse can afford to keep the home, then there are a few options that are open to you.

The first and most straightforward is for you and your spouse is to sell the home and split the proceeds of the sale.

This is especially true if your home’s location is a seller’s market. But even in this situation, there are some issues that you need to work out.  First, you need to arrange who will live in the home and pay the mortgage, tax, and insurance payments while the sale is pending.  Moreover, you need to consider whether that spouse will get a larger portion of the proceeds of the sale because they spent more to keep the home ready for sale.

Another option if the two of you can’t afford to pay the mortgage and are concerned about a foreclosure is to talk to your bank about a short sale.

In a short sale, the sellers get the bank to agree to accept less for the sale of the property than is owed on the mortgage. This allows you and your spouse to walk away from the home without more debt. But be aware that this will negatively impact your credit.

Deciding to get a divorce is hard.

And then it seems to just get harder. But it doesn’t have to be that way anymore.

DIYvorce was created by Minnesota divorce attorneys who know that people need a path to their divorce that doesn’t require thousands of dollars and months of fighting. But they also need to know their divorce is done correctly, and that it resolves the couple’s disagreements.

  Learn More  

DIYvorce is an easy-to-use path for for couples who are ending their marriage:

You work through a secure online interview to gather information.

You get helpful information about issues to consider as you work out how to legally part.

You have the opportunity to consult with legal professionals along the way. Your questions will be answered and you can be confident about your final divorce and the documents.