Should You Fight to Retain the House in Your Alabama Divorce?
When you’re in the process of getting a divorce, you may be in such a state of turmoil that you don’t know which battles to fight, and which to let lie. Deciding whether or not to wage a battle over retaining your house in a division of property is one such area to consider.
Try to assess the true value of your home.
If you’ve spent years putting work into your home or raising your children there, it can be hard to keep an objective view of its market value. Additionally, if you’ve been a long-time resident, there may be large and pricey repairs that need to be made before it could be sold which you may be overlooking when assessing its value in a division of property. Be sure to speak with a real estate professional to determine the home’s market value, and to ascertain whether selling immediately or later might best maximize your return.
Scrutinize your post-divorce budget carefully to determine if you can afford mortgage payments.
After a split, your financial situation may be very different from what it was while you were married. For one thing, you will be operating a budget off of a single income, rather than two, and will need to shoulder the same household expenses without the advantage of sharing them with a spouse. Additionally, you may have acquired additional costs in the split, such as childcare if you’re heading back to work, or child or spousal support payments. While making mortgage payments may have been easy before, make sure that a mortgage payment for your current home is still affordable.
Determine whether your credit score and financial status will support obtaining a favorable refinance rate on your mortgage.
If you purchased your home with your spouse, it’s likely that both your names are on the loan, requiring the spouse keeping the home to refinance in his or her name alone. If you’ve been out of work for years, or if your assets took a major blow in the process of getting a divorce, this may not be easy to do, and could result in a high interest rate. Selling the home and rebuilding your credit for a future purchase might better serve your interests.
