House and Home - Experts and Resources

Should You Keep the House in a Divorce?

You want the house. You know you want the house – unless it brings back too many bad memories. The question then is: Can you afford to keep it?

Well, can you not? I’m a financial advisor in Los Angeles, and I hear this question all the time. Should we sell the house and split the money? How can I possibly make the right decision?

Chin up, sister. My mentor Deborah, 71, was divorced 18 years ago and turned a $3 million dollar real estate portfolio into a $15 million dollar one.

You can too.

Let’s take a hypothetical: a couple has been married for 18 years. When they split up, they both thought they got the better deal.

The wife, who made less than half the salary of the husband, kept the $600,000 house, which had a remaining mortgage of $200,000. With taxes and insurance, her monthly payments would come to approximately $1,500, assuming a 30 year mortgage at 6.5%.

The husband, meanwhile, took something of equal value: an IRA worth $650,000.

Stuck in the House With the Ex-Spouse: Tools and Rules to Help You Survive

When divorce is on the horizon, how can you co-exist in a house with your soon-to-be ex-spouse? Is it possible to live separate and apart under one roof without raising it?

Once the marriage is declared "over" there may be a period of time that leaves the separated sharing space when they are low on relationship grace. While there are separating spouses that decide to share the matrimonial home for an agreed upon period of time, others find themselves in the same predicament for different reasons. Financial limitations, unresolved legal issues, power struggles, and difficulty selling the home result in many former life-partners co-existing under one roof involuntarily.

In these particularly challenging economic times, with the matrimonial home often being the couple's largest asset, slow sales, soft markets, and a lack of palatable alternatives may result in "mom's room, dad's room" carrying on for longer than intended.

Dirty Divorce Tricks, Part 1

Covert operations to uncover your partner's secrets

For certain people, divorce — or even the thought of divorce — brings their very worst qualities to the fore.

Divorce is an emotional rollercoaster. When people are really hurting, particularly if they have been “swapped” for somebody else, self-preservation becomes all-important. But for some, such a state of mind leads to all-consuming hatred, malice and a desire for vengeance.

After 25 years as a divorce solicitor, nothing surprises me anymore. Drawing upon my own experiences — some of them eye-opening — I have compiled a countdown of the top ten dirty divorce tricks.