How to Sell a House During a Divorce: Your Step-by-Step Guide

Divorce, even when it’s friendly, can get complicated fast. As you’re navigating the emotional rollercoaster of ending your marriage, you’re also hit with a mountain of tasks: Gathering info for your lawyer, sorting out insurance, figuring out alimony and child support, and tackling tax stuff. It’s a lot to handle all at once.

If you and your ex have decided to sell the family home, it can seem like an overwhelming and never-ending task. But once you push through the initial hassles, it’s a major step toward making a clean break — if that’s what you’re aiming for. It can be a huge relief and a fresh start, helping you both move on to the next chapter of your lives.

To keep the stress in check, check out this step-by-step guide we’ve put together. It breaks down how to sell a house during a divorce into small, manageable steps.

Step 1: Pick an agent who’s objectively qualified in divorce sales

In the past, you and your spouse may have selected to hire a family friend or mutual acquaintance to serve your real estate needs. But you may find that staying away from personal recommendations is ultimately beneficial when you’re getting divorced. You need a neutral third party who’s got experience in divorce sales to navigate the logistics and communications throughout the process of selling your house.

Going through a divorce also is considered by psychologists to be one of the most stressful events that a person will go through, so you should look for an agent who can be empathetic to your situation while acting in a professional capacity.

“You’ll want to find a patient and understanding Realtor in a divorce situation,” says Ken Viele, a Divorce Specialist and top-selling agent in Naugatuck, Connecticut.

An easy way to find highly rated agents in your area is HomeLight’s free Agent Match tool. Our matching platform analyzes more than 27 million transactions and considers an agent’s specialties and certifications, their years of experience, and their successful home sales in your neighborhood. Each agent is at the top of their field, so you can be confident that they’ll help you maximize your profit.