126 DIVorCe wItH DeCenCY
of an interest in a pension fund or some other property item, or
for a promissory note and mortgage for some amount to be paid
in the future).
The timelines for these buyouts or tradeoffs can be structured
around some specific date, or conditioned upon some specified
event occurring (such as once the kids are grown, or when the
remaining spouse finally moves out or sells the house).
When thinking about what to do with your family home or
other real property, you will want to know just how much of it
you actually own. This amount is called your equity. Your equity
in any property is the difference between what you can sell it for
in the current market, less the mortgage amount(s) still due on it,
and less the costs of selling it. You can find out the current market
value of your property by consulting a professional real-estate
appraiser. This will cost some money, so call around for prices.
You could also call a few local real-estate agents and ask for com-
parables of local property prices.
Once you have figured the market value, deduct the amounts
you owe on it and perhaps the commission for the real-estate
agents (about 3 to 6 percent). There will also be some miscella-
neous sale-related expenses. The amount left over is your equity.
Assuming the house was acquired during the marriage and held
by both spouses jointly, then the entire amount is probably mari-
tal property, and each spouse is probably entitled to half.
Doing the deed. It is crucial to remember that any divorce decree
or other written property settlement agreement you make with
your spouse to have one of you take ownership of your real prop-
erty must then be followed up with an actual transfer of legal title
from one to the other. To transfer real property from joint owner-
ship by both spouses into sole ownership by one spouse, you need
to draw up a deed from one spouse to the other. Have that deed
signed before a notary public and recorded at the local bureau of
conveyances or county recorder. Similarly, if a debtor’s note is to
be taken back, then it must also be properly prepared, signed, and
generally recorded together along with a mortgage. There will be
a small fee for recordation and maybe a transfer tax.
Note that the effectuation of the actual recorded transfer of real
property is not an automatic part of most divorce proceedings.