Selling a House after Divorce

[beachy]

My friend is in an unhappy marriage and is thinking about separating from her husband. She has 1 child from an earlier marriage and they have one son together, aged 6. She wondered where she would stand with selling the house. She thinks he would be against the separation and would not want to leave the house. Can she make the house be sold, against his will - obviously she does not want to continue living with him after separating and also what sort of split would the profits from the house sale be. She earns at least double his wages and would hope to have the son living with her for the majority of the time.

[lady_p_gold]

Well she cannot sell the house without his consent, they both own the house and any split would either have to be by agreement or through the Court. If she wants a legal separation leading up to divorce then all of the marital assets and marital debts will be listed and split, taking into account the needs of both parties and of course of the children. If she earns more than he, then when they separate there would be the question of maintenance and who would be covering the bills and the mortgage etc. He would also be entitled to some of her pension and she his - it can all get very complicated and expensive unless they agree, but from what you say it sounds like he is not going to.