How to Sell Your Home When Faced with Divorce

from Guest Contributor
George Melendez of The Melendez Law Office

Living through a divorce is a delicate and complicated matter for anyone, no matter how amicable the break-up of your relationship. A legal separation of your family comes with a whole host of different concerns from custody to assets and even future life plans. One of the most financially significant questions in a divorce can be what happens to the home you shared.

Deciding what to do with your marital home can be an emotional and difficult topic of discussion between you and your soon to be former spouse, especially if children are involved because it could mean the upheaval of their home. Being resolute to keep as many personal feelings aside in working towards a collaborative divorce can help to reduce conflict and make the entire process easier and less painful.

Steps of the Sales Process
Your first step is to figure out how to divide up your assets and property before you finalize your divorce. Deciding on a strategy with your former spouse early on will help to facilitate the transfer or sale of your property in amore beneficial way. Leaving the property to one partner is an option, though this may necessitate refinancing the mortgage solely under their name; however, if neither spouse is interested in staying in the home or cannot afford to buy the other out, then it becomes necessary to list your house. Working cooperatively will ensure that you receive the best possible price when selling a property.

When selling your home in a divorce the first important thing to consider is realistic considerations of the sales proceeds. Before the money received from the home can be divided up between you and your partner, you’ll need to pay off any mortgages. In Florida, capital gains tax may also apply to your sale, so that deserves some extra budgeting work and legal advice. This is definitely a life event that you don’t want to handle without professional advice.

The next logical step in the selling process is to select an agent to handle the sale. While selling your home can be undertaken without an agent, it’s not advisable—especially when selling your home in the midst of a divorce. The stress, extra time and complications that are associated with selling your property without an agent aren’t factors that you need at this stage.  Relying on a professional to handle the sale of your home ensures that your sale will be handled in a professional manner by an agent familiar with the Tampa area to help you sell your home quickly for the best price. If you need an agent we’re here to help, and we’ve worked with many people in this type of situation.

Also, preparation for showings can be a difficult stage of the process. Agreeing on repairs or remodeling to properly update the house for a future buyer can represent potential point of conflict. Agreeing what financial and physical responsibilities for this part of the sale are important as you move forward.

Fairly Finalizing and Closing
Once you receive an offer on the house, you’ll need to work collaboratively again with your partner to flush out the division of proceeds. An attorney skilled in collaborative divorces can help in this process to facilitate a fair division of assets. Once the sale goes through an escrow company can help distribute the money and make any agreed payments to cover debts and other obligations. Keep in mind that if one spouse has been covering post-separation mortgage payments between the start of your divorce and the sale of your home they have reduced the principal amount which has enlarged your equity. This may mean further proceeds to discuss and divide.

Don’t hesitate in seeking balanced legal advice as you finalize the entire process to guarantee that both parties are fully satisfied and completely able to move on with their lives following a difficult and emotionally draining process.

George A. Melendez, Esq. practices Family Law and has advanced training in Collaborative Divorce among other areas of service at The Melendez Law Office in Tampa, Florida.  He may be reached at 813-280-0181 or visit www.melendezlawoffice.com for more information.

If you’re a Florida resident needing help buying, selling, investing, or building a brand new home, call Dick and Karla Nielsen at 813-294-5786.