Splitting Up a Home: Not So Easy

By Peter Collins | Published on September 7, 2011 | 0 Comments

One of the most sensitive tasks a Sarasota family lawyer can take on involves what’s called time-sharing, says Peter Collins, owner of The Collins Law Group. Collins explains that whenever family law includes divorce, and that divorce includes decisions about children, quite a bit of effort will go toward working out this legal phenomenon of time-sharing. But children are just the beginning.

Whether they are teenagers or infants, the children in a divorce become the center of numerous issues that the splitting spouses must address head-on with a family lawyer in Sarasota. If, when the couple first splits, there are no specific court orders regarding how the children will live, it becomes increasingly difficult for the couple to figure out alone—and agree on—what they want the kids’ living situations to be. Invariably, both spouses will have conflicting wishes. One of the ex-spouses may, for whatever reason, wish to withhold the children from the other ex-spouse. At times like this, it becomes a significant challenge for the Sarasota family lawyer to argue his client’s position to the opposing ex-spouse. Notwithstanding the difficulty of arguing that position, says Collins, a reasonable approach that has the children at its center is often likely to convince the opposing side of the validity of the Sarasota family lawyer’s client’s wishes.

Indeed, controversy arises when two divorcing spouses have different views of what their children’s situations ought to be. But the same kind of fight occurs over property. These days, says Collins, when the economy is suffering, how homes are dealt with in a divorce is arguably as sensitive an issue as how to deal with the kids. These days, in a divorce, a decision has to be made about what to do with a home that has severely depreciated in value. These homes are worth less than their mortgages, explains the Sarasota family lawyer. The question becomes, as Collins asks it, “What to do when people own houses that are upside down in terms of equity?” After the official separation, neither party will be able to pay the mortgage alone. Do they let it go for short sale? Do they let it go into foreclosure? What do they do?

Collins says that, in better economic times, a divorcing couple would decide who gets the house and the mortgage. Five or six years ago, such a house might have $100,000 of equity in it. If neither party wanted it, it would be put on the market, sold, and the couple would split the profits fifty-fifty. Now, says Collins, it’s all about who gets stuck with the house—stuck with the decision of whether to allow a short sale on the house, or to allow it to go into foreclosure.

Of course, how to divide responsibilities regarding children is much different than how to divide the equity, profits, or loss of a home. But both kinds of divorce controversies point to why a family lawyer has to be especially adroit at it all: Large sums of money are involved; the happiness and, possibly, the futures of children are involved. It can be a lot of pressure, but at the end of the day it’s also important work.

*Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. You should not rely on this article as a legal opinion on any specific facts or circumstances, and you should not act upon this information without seeking professional counsel. Publication of this article and your receipt of this article does not create an attorney-client relationship.

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