Who Keeps a Home During a Massachusetts Divorce?

Posted by Joseph Franks on March 20th, 2020

When a person is starting the procedure of divorce, it’s not unusual for them to wonder if they’ll be able to keep the home that they lived in with their spouse while married. Getting a home can be one of the most significant moments of a person’s life and its reasonable why both parties in a Massachusetts divorce would want to keep their marital home. Make sure you contact and consult the finest Family Law Attorney Dorchester MA in order to get better advice and proper guidelines regarding your condition and case.

Is a Home Marital Property?

One of the most significant questions to answer is when a home was acquired. If it was bought during the marriage which is now ending, it counts as marital property and will be added in divorce proceedings as such. In such case, all property and possessions including the home must be divided fairly. So, if a couple can decide on what’s fair for their situation, one can receive possession of the home.

Divorcing couples who can’t agree on who keeps the home face a more difficult condition. In some cases, couples make fighting over ownership of their home a focus of their challenged divorce. When couples can’t decide on who gets their former marital home, a court will have to decide who gets it. In few cases, a Massachusetts court can contain a home that was bought by one party before marriage in divorce proceedings.

Temporary Orders

In some examples, a court can order one party to leave a home during divorce proceedings. This happens in divorces involving domestic abuse and warning orders. A court might also order one person to leave a home if their presence is a threat to the other party or children. Though, a temporary housing order is not revealing of who’ll receive ownership of a home.

How Courts Decide Who Gets a Home During a Divorce

There’s nothing that guarantees one party will receive ownership of a home over another during a Massachusetts divorce. However, a court will examine several factors that contribute to a final decision for homeownership.

These factors include the following:

• Time period of how long a couple was married
• When the home was purchased
• How much each person was included with the purchase and upkeep of the home
• The condition of both parties
• The age of both of them
• The profession and income of each person
• What gives children advantages from the marriage

Important Factors for Deciding Home Ownership

The Equity Of Each Of Them

The equity of a home is split consistently during a divorce. So, if one spouse wants whole ownership of the marital home, they might need to find a way to make a trade for the other spouse’s possession of the home. For instance, if the two people have 0,000 of equity in a home, they’ll each have 0,000 of that equity during the divorce processing. The spouse who wants ownership of the home will need to provide 0,000 or property equal to that value to receive the other person’s stake in the home.

Children

In some circumstances, a court will award ownership of a marital home to the person who has guardianship of children from the marriage. Moreover, a Massachusetts court could view homeownership as a part of child support. In a condition like this, one spouse doesn’t “lose” ownership of the house but rather has to wait until the home is traded before obtaining their share of its value.