Dividing Real Estate In a Divorce: 3 Ways to Deal with a House in the Mix

With roughly 700,000 divorces nationwide each year, you’re not alone in splitting from a partner — or in deciding how what once was “ours” gets allocated into “yours” and “mine.”

Dividing real estate in a divorce adds stress to an already stressful life event because property, especially purchased together, forms part of the foundation of a relationship.

“It’s stability. It’s security, feeling like you’re going to be OK because you have a roof over your head,” said David Dorman, a top real estate agent in the Orlando, Florida area, who regularly helps divorcing clients with their property needs.

Although divorce laws vary by state, real estate and financial experts say that there are three main ways property gets divided in a divorce:

Both parties sell it and split the equity
One party buys out the other
Both parties agree to defer a sale until a later date

Here, we’ve gathered insights into the top considerations for each route.