When you go through a divorce, your life and the lives of your children can change dramatically. While you can’t control everything that changes, you may want to keep as much stability as possible by keeping the family home.
However, as you and your spouse go through divorce, you must decide on how to fairly split all your assets. While having the stability of the family home is important, your former spouse will likely want to receive a fair amount before giving it to you. Here are some options for keeping your family home in divorce:
- Pay off your former spouse – Once you and your former spouse determine the value of your home and subtract what you still owe on the mortgage, you can pay your spouse his or her share of the value. Unfortunately, you probably don’t have the cash on hand to pay off this large lump sum.
- Refinance the home – You can ask the bank to refinance the mortgage so only your name is on it. When you refinance, you can add in how much you owe your former spouse to the total loan.
- Take out a home equity line of credit – A home equity line of credit allows you to borrow a second loan against the equity you’ve built in your home. You can borrow the amount needed to pay off your former spouse without having to change the original mortgage.
- Give up another marital asset – If you have other marital assets that equal the amount of your former spouse’s share of the home, you can give up those in divorce in exchange for the house.
Keeping stability in your life after the divorce can help you and your children deal with the difficult changes. However, your former spouse will want to make sure that you don’t get more than a fair share of the assets. If keeping the house is important to you, you have a few options to give your spouse a fair share of the house while keeping the home in the family.
