Once two spouses decide to get divorced in Texas, one of the biggest decisions they must make is what to do with their shared home. If they own the residence, one individual will likely be moving out of it. Alternatively, they may decide to sell the home and both move out as part of the divorce.
If a divorcing couple decides to sell their home, in some cases, they decide to sell the home a lot later. This often happens if they have children and thus agree that selling the house right away would not be beneficial. If losing the house would impact the children, the parents may simply decide to let the parent with custody of the children stay in the house and then split the equity when the home is sold at a later date.
The challenge, however, is that the one who opts to keep the home for the children rather than receiving cash as part of the divorce settlement may ultimately find himself or herself cash poor and house rich. This is especially true once the alimony or child support runs out. For this reason, those who would like to keep the home would benefit from engaging in careful financial planning before going this route.
There is not necessarily a right or wrong response to the question of whether to keep or sell the home as part of the divorce process. What a couple ultimately does depends on various factors, such as their personalities and whether the home is in both parties’ names. Another important factor is whether children are involved in the divorce and what the court decides with regard to child custody. An attorney in Texas can help with navigating this aspect of property division during divorce in the Lone Star State.
Source: usnews.com, “Divorcing? Should You Divorce Your Home, Too?“, Geoff Williams, Oct. 11, 2017
