You have a beautiful home in a wonderful neighborhood, and you are happy to live there. You and your spouse bought the house five years ago, and you immediately thought of it as your forever home. You never planned to move again.
However, you and your spouse have now decided to get a divorce. You still do not want to move, so you are thinking about giving up other marital assets in order to keep the house. But is this something you should actually do?
Financial considerations
Keeping the house can work, and there are certainly ways to do it. If that is your goal, you may be able to buy out your spouse’s share or give them other assets during property division so that you can exclusively keep the home.
But there are many things to consider to determine if this is a wise decision. For one thing, can you qualify for the mortgage on your own? If the house is not paid off, you may have to refinance your mortgage.
Secondly, you need to look at your budget to determine if it is affordable to keep the home on one income. Maybe you only want your house to make up 20% of your monthly budget, for example. If it was at 20% when you were on two incomes, what does that mean once the divorce has been finalized and you only have one income? Can you still afford all of the maintenance, upkeep, taxes, utilities, insurance payments and other financial obligations?
For some people with a high asset level, keeping a home on their own is easy, so it may be a wise decision for you. But this just shows why you need to think through it carefully as you explore your legal options during property division.