Do we have to sell the house when we divorce?

Alternatives to selling

• Sell and divide the net proceeds in the agreed shares
• One of you buys the other out and takes on the mortgage alone, subject to lender approval
• Keep the property for a defined period, for example until the children finish school, then sell
• Transfer the property with a charge back, so the leaving spouse receives a share on a later sale

When a sale is usually unavoidable

• Neither of you can afford the mortgage alone
• The equity is only enough to rehouse both of you if it is released
• There is no agreement and a court decides a sale is the fair outcome

Two separate processes

It helps to keep two things apart. Ending your marriage is a court process that follows a fixed timetable and does not look at your finances. Sorting your finances is about who keeps what: the home, savings, pensions and debts. You can run them side by side, but one does not automatically decide the other.

• Ending your marriage: the divorce application, conditional order and final order
• Sorting your finances: an agreement between you, and usually a financial court order to make it binding
• CalmSplit's £159 fee covers the divorce itself, not a financial settlement

When to get advice

Consider independent legal or financial advice where there are pensions of real value, a business, complex property, significant debts, or where you are unsure whether what you have agreed is reasonable. CalmSplit can refer you to an independent solicitor. That does not change your £159 CalmSplit fee, and we do not take a fee for the referral.