What If Your Spouse Wants to Keep the House, But You Have No Place to Go After a Divorce?

A divorce is almost never just two people waving goodbye to each other and riding off into the sunset in opposite directions.



Unfortunately, a divorce in 98% of all cases is much more complicated.

For example, two divorcing spouses have to figure out how to divide their marital property and assets, who will be responsible for debts, what to do with deductible taxes, who gets the children, who gets the house, and many other legal headaches associated with a divorce.

But what if one of the spouses wants to keep the house, and the other spouse has no place to go? This is the question we asked our Salt Lake City property division attorney at Emy A. Cordano, Attorney at Law.

Who gets the house?

First, let’s figure out who of the divorcing spouses gets the house in a divorce.

Depending on the circumstances of your particular case, you can keep the martial house if you have the primary child custody. However, when there are no children in marriage, the partner who purchased the marital house with separate funds gets the house.

Under Utah laws, no party has a legal right to force their spouse to leave the home. However, our best property division attorneys in Salt Lake City explain that one of the divorcing spouses can request the other partner to vacate through a court order.

Restraining order

Typically, a spouse can prevent the other spouse from living in their marital house in a divorce in cases of domestic violence or child abuse. In these cases, partners seeking a restraining order against the other spouse are required to speak to a restraining order attorney in order to file a claim and prepare legal action.

However, no matter how toxic and unhealthy your post-divorce relationship is, do NOT attempt to get a restraining order or wrongfully accuse your spouse of domestic abuse just to get him or her out of the house.

If the court proves that you lied when trying to obtain a restraining order, your rights to the martial house will be hanging by a thread.

What if you have no place to go?

If your spouse decides to keep the house and you have no place to go – and have no means to afford an apartment or house to live in – seek immediate legal help of a Salt Lake City property division lawyer.

Under Utah property division laws, marital property is not always divided 50/50 between the two divorcing spouses. While in long-term marriages marital property will typically be divided 50/50; in short-term marriages a judge will take into consideration what each of the divorcing spouses had before marriage and how they contributed to the purchase of the house during marriage.

However, you can compromise and find an alternative solution if you have no place to live in and no money to live on after divorce. That’s why it’s vital to be legally represented by a property division attorney in order to get a fairer arrangement in or out of court.

Only by having an experienced property division lawyer by your side you can challenge the arrangement under which your spouse would get the house and you would have no place to go.

Judges are humans, too. A family court will do whatever it takes to satisfy your basic needs. And having a home to live in is one of the basic needs taken into consideration by judges and juries.

Let our best property division attorneys in Utah at Emy A. Cordano, Attorney at Law seek justice on your behalf and make sure that your basic needs are met. Contact our Salt Lake City to get a free consultation today. Call at 801-821-8561 or fill out this contact form.

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