Divorce and the house: why agreeing a valuation can save you thousands – realestate.com.au

Any divorce can be fraught – whether it’s acrimonious or a best friend parting, when it comes to dividing what was one into two, there are a lot of moving parts, and ‘the end’ is often just the beginning of a process that can take much longer.

Outside of shared children, one of the most difficult things to deal with in a divorce can be the division of property, especially the family home.

Tom Quaid, a real estate agent and zone manager for Cairns and the Far North at the Real Estate Institute of Queensland (REIQ). Photo: Quaid Real Estate website.

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For most people, a significant portion of the family’s wealth will be tied up in the primary home, investment property or real estate, or both, and when working out a fair division of assets, the value of those assets goes from nice to know to absolutely essential.

When assessing your real estate assets as part of a possible divorce, you can approach this in different ways, depending on the level of communication and cooperation between the parties.

The simplest method is when the two parties jointly appoint a real estate agent (for a valuation) or a registered valuer (valuation), after which the report is provided to both parties and an agreement is made to adopt (give or take) the proposed price.

A couple who have an argument and are now going through a divorce. Image: iStock.

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It is an independent third party, and with a certain number both parties can continue with their calculations.

In the event that no one agrees to anything, or access to the property is restricted by one party or the other, an agent or appraiser may be appointed by the court to assess the value.

Getting to this point can quickly become expensive, especially when you factor in legal costs and the timing of the case.

Where you can, it’s definitely worth addressing things before they reach this stage, although I appreciate that sometimes it just doesn’t work out.

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Involving the court can cost thousands of euros. istock image

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Agreed upon price (or close enough), the parties can then work out their division of assets, including whether one party retains all or part of a particular property, and how the remainder of the property’s share is dealt with from there.

Sometimes one partner will refinance to buy out the other party, and in other cases the property will need to be sold and then the money left over after paying off the mortgage will be divided.

When it comes to the actual sale, re-agreeing on an agent, quoted price and strategy will generally save both parties a lot of time and money.

However, failure to agree may result in court-ordered orders, up to and including the appointment of a court-appointed agent and sales instructions.

As always, the right advice early on can make a big difference. So talk to your experts – in property and law.

*** Tom Quaid is the REIQ Zone Chairman for Cairns