A person’s home is his castle. It is the place where he feels safe, and the place where he grounds his personal life. In Arizona, people make homes in large suburban single family houses, small city-based condos, and properties of every shape and size between.
When it comes to divorce, however, it can be difficult to figure out which partner, if either, should be permitted to keep the house. The parties can always decide that neither will keep the home, and that it should be sold to divide the profits of the sale. But, in other cases, both parties want to keep the home and disputes may arise.
During the property division process, a court will look at numerous factors to decide which party should be able to stay in the house. Particularly, who gets the house can directly relate to who has custody of the kids. If one parent is granted sole physical custody of the individuals’ shared children, then that person may get the house, so the kids do not lose their home.
Generally, when a court decides which party will get to keep the marital home, the party that does not receive the house will receive a proportionally larger share of the non-home marital assets up for division during the divorce. Though the amount of property that individual receives may not equal the value of the house, courts do seek to balance fairness when assigning property to the partners of a divorce.
There is no single way to determine who will get a home during a divorce. The property division process is impacted by the facts of different divorces, and it is not possible to rely on the results of one divorce to anticipate what will happen in another. Further inquiries about property division and family homes should be addressed by Arizona family law professionals.