Who gets the house in the divorce?

You may love your home. Perhaps, you had it built with your dream kitchen or an unbelievable home movie room. Or it’s in a great neighborhood, with a wonderful school your kids attend nearby. Now, you are facing divorce and want to keep your home. Will you be able to as you divide your assets with your spouse?

Tennessee and equitable property division

In Tennessee, marital property is divided in a fair, equitable manner in divorce. As a result, you may not have to split the value of your home with your spouse 50-50. A judge will decide what portion of assets you’ll receive of your home’s value from several factors, including your and your spouse’s income, how long you’ve been married, if you have children you are raising in the home and more.

Of course, first you will have to determine if your home is marital property. Did you purchase it while married? If not, your spouse still may receive part of its assets in divorce if you used joint funds for mortgage payments or upkeep costs.

As part of splitting assets with your spouse, you will need a current value for your home. You also will need to know how much you still owe on your mortgage because you and your spouse will divide joint debt in divorce too (debts you have in joint accounts or both your names on debt loans).

Options to keep the house in divorce

As you divide assets from your divorce, you may decide to give your spouse more of other assets so you can keep the family home. You could give your ex more of your retirement savings or investments, ownership of a vacation home or your golf club membership and boat.

You also may decide to refinance your home, to buy out your spouse’s share of its worth or agree to sell the home later on, with you splitting the home’s assets then.

You can work closely with your divorce attorney to review your options and help you advocate for keeping the family home in divorce. You may want the stability of keeping your home in this big transition and uncertain time.