HomeBlogReasons to SellSelling Your House While Divorcing, Without a Second Fight Share on Like what you see? Share with a friend. Selling Your House While Divorcing, Without a Second Fight Chris Kirshenboim | August 17, 2020 Last updated August 10, 2026 Selling your house while divorcing is mostly an exercise in keeping one decision from contaminating the others. The mortgage is indifferent to the separation: both names stay on it until it is refinanced or paid off at closing, and a late payment during the proceedings marks both credit files no matter whose turn it was. That single fact drives most of the timing. Beyond it, the mechanics are ordinary. Both titled owners sign, the proceeds go where the settlement or the court says, and the title company will ask for that in writing before closing rather than after. Where divorce and selling the family home goes wrong is when the house becomes the venue for the wider argument: one party wants speed, the other wants maximum price, and the property sits while both positions harden and the carrying costs accrue. A written offer helps for an unglamorous reason. It converts a disagreement about what the house is worth into a number both attorneys can price against. Our divorce page sets out the process, and there is a companion piece on selling during a divorce if you want a second read. Divorce can be challenging and emotional. Yet, in the midst of the difficult situation, you might be like other divorcing couples who own a property and are trying to figure out how to go about selling your home while divorcing in MO and get cash for houses in St John. As local homebuyers in Missouri, here are our best strategies and ideas to help you navigate the real estate portion of your divorce as carefully and efficiently as possible. Houses In Divorce Can Be Complicated In St John, MO During a divorce, the two parties seek to split their assets in half. For some assets are liquid (such as money), it's very easy to do. For other assets, including real estate, it's much harder to do because how do you split a house in half? It's one asset that derives its value from being whole, and it's usually a structure built on a plot of land, so it's not going anywhere. Since cutting the property down the middle isn't an option, should one party get it or the other? And maybe in some divorces, one party might be invited to take the real estate only if they can pay for it (which is a massive expense a time that people rarely want to incur such expenses). How To Split The Real Estate Asset In St John, Missouri The best way to split the real estate asset is to sell it. The property itself might have some expenses incurred during the sales process, or there might be outstanding bills, or there might still be a partial outstanding mortgage on the property. So the two divorcing parties should probably just sell the property and direct their attorneys to apply the money earned from the equity to any outstanding debts. The remaining amount can then be split between each party, with each party getting an agreed-upon percentage (such as 50/50). But this begs the question, how do you sell the property? The Fastest Way To Sell A Divorce House In Missouri When it comes time to sell, most people think of selling through a real estate agent. Unfortunately, there are a few problems with this: The agent will make the owners pay out-of-pocket to fix up the property first, but who pays for that? The agent will then list the house, which can take 3-6 months to sell (sometimes longer), can either party wait that long? The agent will then involve both parties in the negotiation with the buyer and there is A LOT of paperwork to shuffle back and forth. This is a costly and time-consuming way to sell your house during a divorce, and it can actually make the divorce proceedings so much worse. Sell My House In St John, MO Fortunately, there's another way to sell and that's to sell your house in St. Louis to a real estate buying firm (which is what we do here at Chris Buys Homes in St. Louis). The real estate buying firm will purchase your property quickly, for cash, in as-is condition (and as a bonus, there are never any commissions or fees to pay). You don't have to clean up or fix up the property and the sale can be completed in days, not months, with very little paperwork. If you're going through a divorce and want to just be done with it and move on with your life, just reach out to us and tell us about the real estate you want to sell. We are professional Missouri home buyers and we specialize in purchasing divorce houses, and we can help you expedite your divorce by buying this property from you. Click Here To Enter Your Information Or Call Our Office At (314) 334-1481 To Tell Us About Your Property FAQs Frequently Asked Questions What happens to the mortgage during a divorce? + Nothing automatically. Both borrowers remain liable until the loan is refinanced or repaid at closing, so missed payments during proceedings damage both parties' credit equally. Who signs the closing paperwork? + Every person on the title, unless a court order or power of attorney says otherwise. The title company confirms the requirement early, so it is worth raising at the first call. How are the proceeds divided at closing? + According to the settlement agreement or the court order, which the title company follows. Agreeing that split before closing week prevents funds sitting in escrow while it is resolved.
