Dividing up your home during a divorce can be challenging for various reasons. Some people are not sure where to start when it comes to figuring out who will keep the home after a divorce. Since homes are often the largest financial assets, understanding how home division works in a divorce is vital. Part of this involves finding out the value of your home. Valuing too high could result in you receiving fewer financial assets and valuing too low could result in your spouse receiving more financial assets. Talk to a Tennessee Family Law lawyer to find out more about property division during a divorce.
Property Division During a Divorce
Understanding how a home is divided after a divorce requires understanding the way legal property division operates during a divorce. Property division during a divorce involves separating and defining pre-marital property and marital property. Pre-marital property is any property that one spouse purchased and owned before the marriage. Whereas, marital property is any property that one or both spouses bought during the marriage.
This means that if your spouse already owned the home before your marriage, then the home could be categorized as pre-marital property. In other words, your spouse would keep the home after the divorce and the financial assets of the home itself would not be divided. However, if both of you or one of you bought the home during the marriage, then your home could be considered marital property. This means the financial assets of your home as a whole could be divided up by the court.
Division of marital property assets during a divorce trial can be based on the contribution of you or your spouse to the purchase of the property, marriage length, property value, earning capacity of each spouse, retirement benefits, and tax consequences. Talking with a lawyer about this can help you figure out where your home stands.
Calling an Appraiser
Contacting a local appraiser can also help you figure out the financial value of your home. Knowing the value of your home can help you figure out what assets you or your spouse may receive after the property division.
Appraisers are trained on how to analyze information about your property, they know what market areas to compare to, and they have experience with judging the value of homes for multiple clients. The opinion of an appraiser is considered a professional and objective judgment of your home’s value. This can help you correctly calculate your home’s value without making the value too low or too high, which could disadvantage you.
Family Law Lawyer in Tennessee
Calculating your home’s property value can be difficult without guidance and experience. Consider contacting Davis Law Firm at 865-354-3333 today to talk to a Family Law lawyer in Tennessee. Our offices are located in McMinnville, Johnson City, Sparta, Kingston, Crossville, Cookeville, and the surrounding areas. Our team of lawyers can also help you with other divorce issues like calculating child support, child custody, and disagreements on alimony.
