The marital home may be most contested asset of property division, especially if parents want their children to be able to stay in their familiar home. But the custodial parent may not always be able to buyout the other spouse's share of the house, and co-owning the home is not always possible. That would only have been a temporary arrangement anyway. While selling can be emotionally difficult, many families have decided that moving on means breaking off with painful reminders of the past.

Before putting your house on the market, you will have to consider that the costs as well as the proceeds that you will usually need to split. These costs could include brokers' fees and taking care of your mortgage(s). You also need to be aware of whether or not you will be hit with a capital gains tax. And of course, selling a house can be enough of a headache on its own. Add to that complexity the fact that you could be going through this process with your soon-to-be ex while still dealing with the divorce. Real estate and legal experts can be of great help in this time. That is why you should probably not try to sell the house on your own, not when you're divorcing.

The Crucial Steps to Selling Your Home During the Divorce

Your first step then is to find a real estate agent. If choosing an agent is difficult for you two, you could always try to find the real estate agent who sold you the house in the first place. Or you might need to each ask a third party, such as a family member or friend, and those two can select a real estate agent for you. This way, you can leave it to the agent to decide the asking price, taking away a source of potential strife.

Then you will have to get the house ready for showing, taking care of little fixes around the property, painting some of your walls, removing clutter and furniture, etc. Whatever expenses are necessary for preparing the house, you will have to come up with a way to divide the costs. For instance, if one of you is living in the home, then you would have to be the one who cleans and tidies before potential buyers come. If you are the only one who performs these preparations, then you two could agree on a way for you to get compensated.

Then you will have to look over your offers to decide which you will accept. Again, a real estate agent is invaluable here, but you and your ex will have to both agree on the final decision. You will then need to split up the profit from the sale, which would mean dividing all funds after obligations and closing costs have been taken care of. The obligations that you need to pay after the sale could be guided by the terms in your divorce agreement as well, such as your mutual decision to eliminate certain marital debts with the proceeds.

Once all those obligations have been dealt with, there are several factors that would influence how the money is divided. For example, if the mortgage payments after separation were all paid by one spouse, then that spouse could be responsible for increasing the equity. That spouse's portion of the proceeds could be increased by the same amount that equity was increased.

While the real estate agent can help you with the sale of your house, you will need a legal professional to help you with all the other aspects of your divorce. If you are looking for the legal expert who is right for your case, don't hesitate to call a divorce attorney on our directory today!