If you’re getting divorced, you need to think about your finances and your housing situation. For many people, this means deciding if they want to sell their house or not.

After all, the easiest way to divide a family home in a divorce is just to sell that home. You will theoretically earn money on the sale, and then you and your ex can simply divide that money.

But you may not have any desire to move. Maybe you love your home and you want to stay there even after the marriage. If so, there are some options for you to keep the house, but you may need to get a new mortgage.

What has to happen?

Part of the equation here is simply that your ex is probably going to want whatever percentage of the house they owned. That represents financial earnings to them, especially if they don’t want to stay in the house and they just want to sell it to a third party. They know how much they should have earned. 

To give that to them, you’re going to have to buy out their share. Some couples are able to do this using money or assets that they already own, but many have to take out loans. A mortgage loan for the full value of the house could help you do so.

Additionally, if you stayed on the same mortgage that you and your spouse had together, that would mean that both of you were liable for those payments. There are rare cases in which couples decide to do this, but it would mean that your ex would be responsible if you didn’t pay. Odds are that they wouldn’t want to take that risk, even if you fully intended to make every mortgage payment until you paid off the house.

As you can see, keeping the house is possible, but it can also be complex. Be sure you understand your legal options.