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Keeping or Selling Your Home in a Divorce

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If you and your spouse own a home together and have made the decision to end your marriage, you might assume that you will be forced to sell your home as part of the divorce. This does tend to happen often but there are also instances where one of the spouses ends up keeping the house after the divorce has been finalized. If you or your spouse would like to this, there are some important facts you should be aware of.

According to Bank rate, it is vital you know that your mortgage lender does not need to follow any terms laid forth in your divorce decree. This means that if your divorce decree stipulates one party as the person responsible for the mortgage going forward, your mortgage lender will still consider both parties liable for the debt unless you remove one person from the existing loan or obtain a new loan in the responsible party’s name only.

Some people can struggle to qualify for a solo loan after a divorce as their income and credit generally dip at this time. If it is possible to be approved for the loan necessary to keep the house, you should carefully evaluate the ongoing cost of home ownership which includes insurance, taxes, maintenance and repairs.

If you would like to learn more about the factors you should evaluate before making a decision about whether or not to keep your home or let your spouse keep your home after a divorce, please feel free to visit the mortgages, divorce and debt responsibility page of our divorce and family law website.

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