Selling A House During
Divorce In California

Although retaining divorce lawyers is not required in California, an experienced divorce lawyer that has worked hundreds of cased will know every article of the state divorce law, make sure the divorce papers are filed properly, and do their best to make sure you leave with everything you deserve. They provide a valuable service and will help you handle things as quickly as the law book allows.

If you choose not to get an attorney for your divorce and your spouse uses one, you could be at a significant disadvantage in divorce court. Your friends or coworkers may have offered you advice but it may be inaccurate or not relevant to California, as each state has its own divorce law. A good divorce lawyer will make it their business to make sure you’re taken care of during the case.

California is a community property state, which means that all “marital assets” are divided equally as part of a divorce settlement, meaning that a house bought after the marriage belongs to both you and your spouse. If it was bought before the marriage or inherited as part of a deceased relative’s estate, it belongs exclusively to the person who bought it and is considered personal property.

This division of marital property is absolute under state law. Unlike some other states, the difference in California is that neither party’s marital behavior, including affairs, alleged spousal abuse, or other factors during the marriage nor the length of the marriage before the divorce is taken into account when dividing the property.

If the marital house belongs to both parties, a real estate agent can sell the house and divide the proceeds. If both spouses can’t agree on a realtor to handle the sale, one can be appointed as a seller by the divorce court. This makes a sale easier to obtain but will involve additional costs for the seller.

Another choice is to sell the house independently in a For Sale By Owner (FSBO) transaction. Being a seller yourself will require more work, like dealing with buyers individually, than hiring a realtor but will have fewer seller fees.

The third of these options is to become a seller to a local cash home buyer, which many people consider the easiest option to sell their home. A local company like JiT Home Buyers will buy houses as-is without extra fees and will work to make it as easy as possible for the seller. The cash from the sale can then be immediately split between you and your spouse.

The method chosen during the previous step will determine how quickly the house can be sold. A realtor may get you the highest sale price but after related fees and possible maintenance costs incurred while the house awaits a buyer, the sale may not get you the most money. Acting as your own seller can be time-consuming and expensive. In addition, using a local cash home buyer allows the least amount of contact between the former couple while still being able to sell their former home.

As California is not an equitable distribution state, both parties acting as sellers will split the money from the sale evenly. Any outstanding property taxes, realtor fees (if any), and outstanding debts like mortgages would be paid from the sale before the money is distributed. If you sell the house for $250,000 and have $50,000 left on the mortgage, the parties would split $200,000 and each seller would receive $100,000 as part of the sale.