You may find that a lot of couples who get divorced decide to sell their home. This could surprise you. Maybe they are parents and they still have children, and you assume that the home they owned before would still work just as well, even if family life has changed after the divorce. They will still be co-parents, after all.
But the truth is that there are a number of reasons why people often opt to sell the house, even if it would technically still work for their family.
They don’t want to share a mortgage
First of all, divorced couples generally don’t want to stay on the same mortgage. If they do, that means that someone could be liable for the missed payments of an ex-spouse, even decades in the future. But it is also not always possible for one spouse to qualify for the mortgage on their own, which means that the couple has no choice but to sell the house and look into other housing options.
It makes it easy to split up assets
It’s also complicated to determine how to split up assets if one person is keeping the house. It’s certainly possible, but it is easier to simply sell the home and then consider how much was made in that sale. This money then could then be divided in half, the mortgage could be paid off and everyone can go their separate ways.
As you and your spouse go through a divorce, the house is just one asset to consider. Be sure you really think through all of your options to determine what will be best in your situation.