It is normal for divorcing spouses to argue about who gets what and how to split up the assets they once shared as part of their married life. The greater the emotional or financial value that’s an asset has, the more likely it is for former spouses to butt heads over it’s a location of part of their divorce proceedings.
Your marital home sits at the intersection of assets with financial worth and items that have significant emotional value. The more time you spend in your home, the more likely it is that you’ve grown attached to the memories you made there. When people find themselves worrying about what assets they can retain in the divorce, the home is often a major concern.
Tennessee’s equitable distribution standard impacts your home
When the family courts are the ones that must decide how to distribute assets from your marriage, they must do so according to the concept of equitable distribution. That means that they look carefully at elements from your marriage, including its length, each of your financial contributions, your individual unpaid contributions to the household and even your current medical status, in order to split things in a fair manner.
Beyond that, they may also look at the custody of any minor children and the connections you have to certain assets. If you acquired the home during a marriage, the chances are good that your spouse will receive at least a portion of the equity in the home. In some cases, the courts may order you to refinance the property to cash out equity to pay your ex if you retain the home.
Other times, they can order a divorcing couple to sell their home and split the proceeds. If you owned the house outright prior to marriage or if it was part of an inheritance, you may be able to protect it a separate property, although circumstances can complicate even that situation. It is generally impossible to predict the exact outcome of asset division, which is a reason why you want to plan your divorce carefully.