If you and your spouse own homes in more than one state, divorce may make property division harder to sort out. You might be trying to work out what happens to each home, how much equity you have and which property fits your life after divorce.
A Massachusetts court may still take real estate in another state into account when dividing your assets. The fact that a home sits outside Massachusetts does not automatically remove it from the property issues in your divorce.
How the court may treat an out-of-state home
Massachusetts uses an approach that lets courts divide property based on fairness, rather than automatically splitting everything equally. Under Massachusetts law, the court may assign property owned by either spouse.
That could include a home you bought before the marriage or one titled in only your name. The court may also look at when you acquired the home and what it is worth. The name on the deed alone does not decide what happens to the property in your divorce.
What keeping one home could mean
If you hope to keep one of the homes, the amount of equity often matters more than the sale price. Equity is the home’s value after you subtract what you still owe on it. A costly home might have far less equity if a large mortgage remains.
Your plans for the homes also affect the financial picture. If you keep one property while your spouse keeps another, a difference in equity may affect how you divide other assets. Selling a home could also reduce its net value after sale costs.
Compare what each property offers
Homes in different states may make marital asset division more complex. You might want to gather recent value estimates and current mortgage records so you can compare what you own in each property. It could also help to weigh which home fits your finances and living plans as you work through the end of your marriage.