Buying a Home During a Divorce

Buying a Home During a Divorce: Family Lawyer Danielle Seitz Gives Some Sage Advice

Lately, I’ve been on the interview train, working to create new and useful content for those out there looking to buy a home. In addition to my in-depth conversation with Pamela Paulson about credit scores — read all about it on the previous page — I had a chance to speak with Danielle Seitz at Aloia, Roland, Lubell & Morgan, a family law firm here in Fort Myers.

Every couple of months, I have someone in my office going through a divorce while applying to purchase a home. Usually, they just want to refinance their mortgage without their spouse, which is pretty cut and dry for me. But it gets a little more complicated when someone is looking to buy a home before the divorce is finalized. Of course, when people get divorced, at least one of them almost always needs a new place to live, so this makes sense. But the goal of my interview was to get Danielle’s professional take on the situation, so as to give those in the middle of a divorce some guidance.

“It can be a little bit dicey when you’re talking about getting a new place when the divorce is still pending,” Danielle says. In most pending divorce situations, you’ll be under a standing order of injunction, which prevents either party from spending marital money or assets without a court order until the divorce is finalized. Of course, there are cases where people still go out and buy a home, but Danielle doesn’t recommend it.

“I advise my clients that it might be a good idea to rent for some time if they’re not remaining in the marital home, because there are so many unknowns,” she says. “You don’t necessarily know what your child support obligation might be, or how much you may be receiving in child support or alimony, or what possible debts you may be responsible for.” You can potentially draw from non-marital accounts or assets you had prior to the marriage that were never added to during your marriage, but use caution. “You do still run the risk potentially down the line when it gets resolved that your spouse does have a claim to equity in that home,” Danielle says.

So there you have it. Of course, that’s not all Danielle and I talked about. Check out the full interview on my Facebook page (facebook.com/TimHartJr/) for more information, or just give me a call.