There are many challenging questions that arise during a California divorce. One of the most common questions people have is about division of property, and “how can a family law attorney in San Diego help me keep my home?”
Sometimes spouses both want out of the house, possibly because they cannot afford to maintain it on their own. Other times, one spouse may feel he or she has financially invested a great deal in the marital home and may not have the resources to find another residence. If young children are involved, one spouse may want to remain in the home with the children so as not to allow the divorce to become too disruptive for their kids. A spouse might also feel a strong emotional attachment to the marital home.
Whatever your reasoning, whether family law attorneys in San Diego can help you keep your home can be a difficult question. While California’s community property laws may seem straightforward in that they divide marital assets and marital debts equally between both spouses, the answer as to who gets the house in a divorce can be a little more complex since it is far more difficult to split a house in two. Depending on the unique circumstances of your divorce, the following options might be available to you regarding your house.
How Family Law Attorneys in San Diego Can Help: Buying Out Your Spouse
If one spouse wants to take full ownership of the marital home and the other spouse agrees, the spouse wishing to keep the home can buy out the spouse’s share of the marital home. This will usually involve the spouse buying the home to refinance the home to ensure the selling spouse’s name is removed from the mortgage. Depending on the dynamics of the buyout process, there could be tax consequences involved in the transaction for both spouses. These can include home mortgage interest deductions and tax concerns involving spousal support, depending on how a court or the parties structures the buyout.
How Family Law Attorneys in San Diego Can Help: Sell the House and Divide the Profits
In scenarios where neither spouse has an interest in staying in the marital home, either for financial or other reasons, spouses can agree to sell the home and divide the profits from the sale. Basically, both spouses will go through the sale process, pay off any debt related to the home from the sale, and split any remaining profits evenly. It is also not unusual for the net sale proceeds of the home to be placed in a trust account pending an agreement for paying all the community property debts such that the debts will be paid directly from the trust account before the net sale proceeds are split evenly. This method insures each party pays their one-half of the community property debts and obligations.
How Family Law Attorneys in San Diego Can Help: Deferred Sale
In some cases where spouses share children and it is financially practical, San Diego courts will allow a deferred sale of the marital home. In this scenario, designed to lessen the impact of divorce on children, both spouses will remain on the title to the home for a specified period of time where the custodial parent will retain exclusive use of the home. The time period set by the court will vary depending on individual circumstances, and after the time period has expired, both spouses will sell the home.
Get Legal Help
There are many considerations that go into determining which process is right for you. Experienced family law attorneys in San Diego can help you understand more about those considerations. If you are thinking about divorce or have made the difficult decision to move forward with it in San Diego County, contact JWB Family Law to schedule a free consultation where you can find out more about what the divorce process entails and what options might be available to you regarding division of assets.
