Divorce literally hits you where you live. When one of the partners files for divorce, it calls all sorts of things into question – including where each of you will live.
In a recent post, we discussed factors that affect what to do with a house after a divorce. These factors include whether one spouse can quality for refinancing on their own and considerations involving where children will live.
In today’s post, we’ll discuss options in the short-term, while the divorce proceedings are going on.
Staying or going
One scenario that couples sometimes face is being separated in the same house. Living together while going through a divorce from each other is of course a difficult experience. But sometimes, such as for financial reasons, it may be necessary because neither party can immediately afford to get a different place.
To be sure, sometimes a spouse does move out, to stay with friends or other family, or to rent a different place. But if you own the house together, that does not mean one spouse can force another to move out of the marital home while a divorce is pending. If you are co-owners of the house, they cannot force you to leave or evict you from the home.
If there are allegations of domestic violence, that is of course an entirely different scenario. For example, if there is a protective order in place, that will immediately affect who is allowed to live where.
Why would you want to stay?
There are many reasons that you may want to stay in the house. Perhaps you have children and you don’t want to move out until you understand the custody arrangement. It hasn’t been set up by the court yet, so you may simply want to continue living in the house until they have a chance to do that.
Another thing to consider is that you may be worried that your spouse is trying to kick you out of the house so that they can get more of the family’s assets. Maybe they will remove assets from the house. Maybe they will even accuse you of abandoning your family or voluntarily leaving. You want to avoid these types of complications, and simply remaining in the family home during the divorce is one way that you can lower the odds that a dispute will take place.
That being said, you can see just how complex a divorce may become, so be sure you know about all of your legal options.
