Selling a House in Divorce in Thornton

When couples are divorcing, there are lots of challenges they go through and one of them is splitting their matrimonial home, among other assets and debts.

In Colorado, the law treats the couple that owns a house as a single entity. This means that even after the divorce, the two of you will still be married in the eyes of the lender unless you work around things to prove otherwise. Do keep in mind that the lender will only settle for a workaround that will ensure they still get back what you owe them.

In the lender’s books, a husband and wife are equal in terms of ownership of assets. As a result, the two will also be responsible for debts they acquire during marriage in equal measure. As expected, the largest debt a married couple can have is their house mortgage, but the good thing is that the source of this massive debt happens to be the couple’s biggest asset.

Sometimes, selling a house in divorce in Thornton is the best way to liquidate the asset and split it between the couples, however, how good an option this is will depend on the couple’s personal preferences as well as their current financial situation.

Marital property and debt

While some other states such as California have community property, Colorado has what is known as marital property. Ideally, these are one and the same, only with two different names. Marital property is any asset that a couple purchased using money acquired when they were married, which is the same as community property. However, things are handled a bit differently when it comes to splitting the assets in these two cases.

Since divorce proceedings are taken care of by the court, the judge will most likely subtract the value of your marital debt from the value of your marital property. After this, the remainder will be divided equitably between the two of you. This means that the assets and debts will not be split into half, rather, the judge will determine a fair way of dividing the property, whether the two get an equal share or not.

Selling a house in divorce in Thornton

If you and your spouse decide that selling a house in divorce in Thornton is the right course of action to take – or the judge decides that this is the way forward – you’ll have several options to choose from. In most cases, divorcing couples who still believe can afford to see each other severally after divorce can go for a real estate agent.

If there is one spouse still living in the house pending its sale, he or she will be responsible for keeping the house clean and always ready for viewing. This can be a challenge for those not up to the task, especially since the house must always clean or rather staged at all times. Also, the spouse living in the house needs to be extra flexible since potential buyers can show up anytime to view the house and you don’t want to turn them down.

If you still owe a mortgage on the house, selling it is without a doubt the best option to help you clear the debt and probably other debts the two of you owe besides the mortgage. The remaining money will go into a trust account until the judge rules on the best way to split the proceeds between the two.

Alternatives to selling a house in divorce

Even though selling a house in divorce in Thornton is preferred by many divorcing couples, it’s not always the only option available. If one of you wants to keep the house, they can buy out the share of the other spouse. The easiest way of handling this case is where the spouse keeping the house assumes the remaining mortgage and removes the name of the other spouse from the loan.

If the lender doesn’t allow you to assume the mortgage, you can apply for a new first mortgage loan and use the money to pay off the share of the other spouse. However, make sure the spouse moving out signs a quitclaim deed that confirms he or she has relinquished ownership of the house, otherwise, things could get messy a few years down the line.

Another alternative to selling a house in divorce in Thornton is to rent it out, at least until you come up with a solid decision on what do to with the house.