When you get divorced, one of the first questions you may ask involves the disposition of your family or marital home. An experienced Pennsylvania divorce attorney can walk you through the potential scenarios of what may happen to your family home given your specific circumstances.
Understanding Marital vs. Separate Property
In Pennsylvania, the equitable distribution factors govern the division of marital assets during a couple’s divorce. Although couples must split their marital assets during a divorce, each spouse gets to keep their separate property. Separate property includes all assets acquired before marriage and any gifts or inheritances given or acquired exclusively by one spouse during marriage. Furthermore, a couple’s pre- or post-nuptial agreement may designate various assets as separate property not subject to equitable distribution in divorce.
Conversely, marital property generally includes all assets acquired by spouses during their marriage, regardless of whether one or both spouses have the name on the title, deed, or other ownership document.
Factors Courts Consider When Dividing the Marital Home
Under Pennsylvania’s equitable distribution law, courts consider various factors to determine a fair division of marital assets, such as a family home, between divorcing spouses, including:
- The length of the marriage
- Any prior marriage of either party
- The age, health, sources of income, vocational skills, employability, assets, and liabilities of each spouse
- The contribution of one spouse to the education, training, or increased earning power of the other spouse
- The opportunity for each spouse to acquire capital assets and income
- The sources of income for each spouse, including medical, retirement, insurance, and other benefits
- The contribution or dissipation of each spouse to the acquisition, preservation, appreciation, or depreciation of marital property, including a spouse’s contributions as a homemaker
- The value of each spouse’s separate property
- The standard of living during marriage
- The economic circumstances of each spouse at the time of equitable distribution
- The tax ramifications of dividing, distributing, or assigning each marital asset
- The expense of selling, transferring, or liquidating a marital asset
- Which spouse will serve as the custodian or parent of primary residence of the couple’s dependent minor children
Under the equitable distribution factors, a court must divide the marital estate or specific assets in the estate fairly. However, courts do not have to divide property equally between spouses. The above factors may lead a court to determine that an unequal division will nonetheless give each spouse their fair share of the marital estate.
Common Outcomes for the Marital Home
Couples and courts may pursue various options for dividing a marital or family home. Some of the most common outcomes for the family home in divorce include:
- Sell the property and split the proceeds : When one spouse cannot afford to maintain the marital home alone, a couple may agree, or the court may order the marital home sold and the net proceeds of the sale (after satisfying any mortgages, liens, unpaid property taxes, and costs of sale) divided between the spouses in a split deemed agreed upon by the spouses or considered fair by the court.
- One spouse keeps the house : Sometimes, a couple may agree that one spouse may keep the house, or the court may award the house to one spouse. However, in this scenario, the spouse keeping the house must “buy out” the other spouse’s interest in the property, which the spouse may do through a cash payment equal to the other spouse’s equity or by the other spouse receiving other marital assets in equitable distribution equal to their equity in the home. When one spouse keeps the marital home, they may need to refinance the property if it has a mortgage to take the other spouse’s name off the mortgage and deed.
- The spouses pursue a deferred sale : Divorcing parents may agree to defer a sale of the home and split the proceeds until their minor children have reached an agreed-to benchmark, such as high-school graduation. Both spouses may continue contributing to the home’s mortgage and property taxes, or the spouse living in the house may assume all maintenance costs while the other spouse stops being responsible for such costs.
Special Considerations
Here are some special considerations that divorcing spouses may keep in mind as they consider what to do with their home:
- Pre/postnuptial agreements : The couples may have an agreement that expressly dictates what happens to the marital or family home in divorce.
- Mortgages : Failing to refinance a jointly held mortgage when one spouse continues to reside in the home may mean both spouses remain financially responsible for the property.
- Co-ownership after divorce : A divorced couple may agree to a financial arrangement to defer a sale of the home for a certain period or until certain events occur, such as the children graduating high-school or a spouse’s retirement.
Contact a Divorce Attorney Today
If you’re going through a divorce, you need a knowledgeable attorney to help you protect your rights and interests in the home you’ve shared with your family. Contact The Law Offices of Dawn K. Gull today for a confidential consultation with a dedicated divorce lawyer in Wexford to learn more about what happens to the family home in a Pennsylvania divorce.