Can my husband force me to sell the house? It depends on the circumstances at hand. Are you still married or divorced? Do you own the property jointly? What does the marital law in your state stipulate? Are there children or disabled persons living in the home?
In certain circumstances, your husband can force the sale of the house through a court order. However, the best alternative would be to negotiate with him and agree to an equity exchange or a buyout.
We will look at marital law stipulations for the sale of a marital home, circumstances under which you may be forced to sell the house, what a court order to sell the house would mean for you, and the best alternatives.
Marital laws in most states stipulate that each spouse has a stake in the house if it was bought in the course of the marriage. As such, you both would have to sign off on a sale due to the property ownership.
If you are married in any of the 9 states with community property law— California, Texas, Idaho, Nevada, Arizona, Washington, New Mexico, Wisconsin, and Louisiana—you have an equal stake in the house as your husband.
In the other states, your stake is determined by factors such as your contribution towards the purchase of the marital house during marriage, non-material contribution to the marriage and running of the home, the value of the house, and your economic status. Either way, you would ideally need to agree to and sign off on the sale of the house.
If there are good reasons for selling the house, your husband can petition the court through his attorney to force you to sell the house. For instance, in case of a divorce, the divorce agreement was for the house to be sold, but you are refusing.
Another reason divorce court can force the sale of the house is if the family has bad debts and selling the house could help to settle them. For instance, if you are struggling to keep up with property tax payments or other maintenance costs, it would be best to sell the house.
Or, in case you are faced with a huge hospital bill due to an immediate family member being sick, sale proceeds from the house could settle or offset a significant part of the bill.
Even as you refute the sale of the marital house, assess whether your reasons are good enough and if they could stand up in court. For instance, if you are simply refusing out of malice to punish your partner due to a divorce, you can be sure the court will rule in his favor.
You could also be refusing for reasons such as:
Once your husband petitions for the court to force a sale, it assesses his reasons to determine if they warrant forcing a sale. The court aims to be fair and to make a ruling in the best interest of all the parties involved. The judge assesses the case on two main criteria — “best interest for all parties” and “refused without good reason.”
Therefore, if your husband’s reasons are not good enough, then the court will not issue you with a court order to sell. If it does, you can counter and appeal the ruling. Generally, judgments are made per case.
For instance, most states have homestead rights that prevent one spouse from selling or forcing the sale of the house if the other spouse or a minor lives in the house to prevent them from becoming homeless.
If the court finds it best to sell the house, you will be issued an order to facilitate the sale. You will be required to sign off on the sale, or your rights to approve the sale will be removed. The court would take the mandate to sign off the house sale on your behalf.
The court may allow you to continue living in the house as long as you facilitate the staging, inspection, and showing to potential buyers. You would then be required to move out of the house by the time of closing. Failure to do so, you can be charged with contempt of court and could be forced out of the house.
Getting a court order is time-consuming and expensive. It is cumbersome and complicates the sale of the house. It could also take away from efforts towards upgrading, renovating, and doing market research to establish the best value for the house.
Besides, some potential buyers may shy away from the property if they learn that the sellers are conflicting or the house is being sold through a court order.
Therefore, settling your disagreement with your husband out of court is better. Hear him out and try to understand his reasons for wanting to sell the house. Also, explain your reasons for refuting the sale.
Point out circumstances under which you would be willing to sell the house. If need be, have a mediator oversee your negotiations. If you are in the middle of a divorce, your divorce attorneys can mediate the negotiations.
Some alternatives to consider include:
If the house is on a mortgage, the lender must be involved in the payout process. If your spouse was paying for the mortgage or if you were both contributing to the mortgage payment, you will have to take it up solely. If you agree to an exchange
If you can’t agree with your husband about selling the marital house and other aspects of property division during divorce proceedings, he can go to court to compel the judge to issue a court order for the sale. If the court finds his reason for wanting to sell good enough and in the best interest of all involved parties, it will issue a court order to sell the marital property without your consent.
But, if your reasons for refuting the sale of the matrimonial home are good enough, then the court will not force the sale, and if they do, you can appeal. The best-case scenario would be to reach an agreement with your partner outside of divorce court.
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