Divorce: Real Estate ?

[remozseo]

Hi there !

Situation:
Still married, but want to get divorced.

Besides my little business, I am also having a house together with my wife, fully paid, no mortgage.
I can't sell the house without my wifes permission, because we are both owning it and both of us are on the title.

So what can I do in order to proceed selling the house ?
She is not willing to do anything, she is not willing to sign an agreement.

So what can I do ?
Do I have to file a case on court ?
Or how do you do such a thing ?

Thank you for any little help, appreciate it !

[Harold Mansfield]

Hi there !

Situation:
Still married, but want to get divorced.

Besides my little business, I am also having a house together with my wife, fully paid, no mortgage.
I can't sell the house without my wifes permission, because we are both owning it and both of us are on the title.

So what can I do in order to proceed selling the house ?
She is not willing to do anything, she is not willing to sign an agreement.

So what can I do ?
Do I have to file a case on court ?
Or how do you do such a thing ?

Thank you for any little help, appreciate it !

There's nothing you can do. You need her to agree. Try some kind of mediation. Find out what she wants, and compromise.
If that doesn't' work, move back in and live there. If you both own the house, you have a right to live there too. That will get old real quick. Especially if she wants to get on with her life.

[Freelancier]

Every state's marriage/divorce property laws are different. You need a local divorce attorney to advise you.

If your wife's name is on the title of the home, you cannot sell it without her permission, because she would have to sign the agreement to sell the home... or even to list the home with a real estate agent.

Very few divorces happen without an attorney to advise you on your rights and negotiating position.

[remozseo]

Thank you, appreciate your hints.

But isn't there a process, I can start to sort this out through a judge ?

Once the judge has spoken, and he would by law tell us that we can sell the house and the money should be split... done.

I just don't know where to go to get this process started. I see the point of an attorney but U don't want to burn more money.

Thanks

[Freelancier]

As I wrote: every state is different. The whole point of an attorney is to help guide you through the process that is unique to your location. You don't just walk into the judge's courtroom and ask them to help you get a divorce, that's not what they're there for.

Yes, attorneys cost money. Not having an attorney also costs money... and often costs more because you are going to be a terrible and emotionally invested advocate for your position.

[remozseo]

I totally do understand that the court isn't there to help me guide through a divorce. The Judge is the final decision maker because of the fact the parties can't find an agreement. If the parties would find an agreement, I wouldn't need to go to court.

But even if I wouldn't file for a divorce, the Real Estate has to be treated as his own independent trial.

Two parties are showing up, representing each other.
The judge get's the info, and based on the law he judges.

Boom. Done.

But I am only interested in understanding, how and where I launch this process.
Everything else is clear for me and makes sense.

Is it Motions or Order to Show Cause ?
What would fit for Real Estate Splitting ?

[Harold Mansfield]

I totally do understand that the court isn't there to help me guide through a divorce. The Judge is the final decision maker because of the fact the parties can't find an agreement. If the parties would find an agreement, I wouldn't need to go to court.

But even if I wouldn't file for a divorce, the Real Estate has to be treated as his own independent trial.

Two parties are showing up, representing each other.
The judge get's the info, and based on the law he judges.

Boom. Done.

But I am only interested in understanding, how and where I launch this process.
Everything else is clear for me and makes sense.

Is it Motions or Order to Show Cause ?
What would fit for Real Estate Splitting ?

We're trying to help with what we can, but you do realize you're on a small business forum asking about getting divorced, right?
This isn't exactly the best place to get the kind of advice you need, and you're asking legal questions that are particular to your state, which none of us have any idea which state that is.

Get an attorney. I don't see where there's anyway around that. You aren't going to be able to do this without one considering the kind of questions that you have.

[Freelancier]

But even if I wouldn't file for a divorce, the Real Estate has to be treated as his own independent trial.
Wrong. Dissolution of the marriage entails dissolution of all economic binds between the parties that they want to sever. It's all inter-related and part of the overall negotiations.

Get an attorney. Best you can do to cut costs would be to get her to agree to mediation and use the results of that to get to a divorce settlement that requires minimal attorney intervention. But if you're out here asking questions like this, it means she's not agreeing to anything with you without a fight, so ... get an attorney.

[turboguy]

I am sorry to hear your marriage is not working out. The bad news is there is no way you can sell the house without her permission. Divorce is supposed to be pretty fair but in reality is is slanted strongly to the woman. When you divorce there are some things that vary by state. In many states any assets acquired during the marriage are split 50-50 with those assets each had coming into the marriage going to those who had it before the marriage. Even if you had the house before the marriage when you put her name on it she now owns half. In community property states all assets are considered joint no matter if they were acquired before a marriage or not so everything is split 50-50

In the real world however divorces are often settled using the 50-50 rule. Half of everything going to the wife and the other half going to the lawyer.

Just figure you will probably be starting over with next to nothing. Now that is the case if you don't have kids. If you do have kids then figure you will have next to nothing until the youngest turns 18 and they you can start over with next to nothing.

The tone of your post suggests to me that you are very emotionally involved with this. I would suggest keeping your emotions out of things and trying to settle as quickly and cheaply as possible while staying as friendly as possible. Getting stubborn or letting yourself get too emotionally involved can be very expensive. One lady I know as well as her ex husband were very stubborn and ended up spending over 10 grand arguing about who owned the snow shovel. I am serious about this. They both felt they owned the snow shovel and it was a matter of principal that they got the snow shovel. They were not going to give in no matter what. They could have bought hundreds of snow shovels for what they paid to keep that one.

Usually they try to get the parties involved to settle without having the judge make the final determination. When my first wife and I divorced I can recall her saying I could have everything, all she wanted was the marriage to be over. When it came down to settling she was afraid to make an offer for fear she would not ask for enough and afraid to take any offer I made for fear I would try to cheat her. We ended up with about an 80-20 split. I kept my business, my car that had a loan that was as big as the car was worth and my clothes. She got most everything else including the house, the paid for car, the boat, the camper the furniture and alimony until the youngest turned 18. I was sleeping on a Kmart air mattress and using cardboard boxes for tables.