couples end up using up what equity they had in their marital property on legal and court fees. Refusing to sign papers to sell the home or refusing to help pay for the mortgage will give a judge no other option than to order the home sold on the court’s terms through action for partition. Ultimately, it's in both of your interests to cooperate with respect to liquidation of joint real property, as it will greatly aid financially in covering the unavoidable expenses related to divorce. When a divorce action is filed, an automatic temporary restraining order can be issued to prevent spouses from selling or borrowing against marital property. Discuss this option with your lawyer to make sure your stake in the marital property is protected. Less than one-third of divorces end up in court due to disagreements over property division, but if you’re in that unfortunate one-third, going to trial doubles the cost of the divorce. An average divorce costs $11,000 if settled out of court. That amount will at least double if you have to go to court for resolution, which will take a serious bite out of your home’s equity. I've seen divorces cost as little as $3,000 if both parties can agree to move forward and closer to 30 to 50 times that if things get ugly. It's just like a wedding, you can get a marriage license in a courthouse for a few hundred dollars, or you can Bridezilla or Groomzilla your way into a couple hundred-thousand-dollar hole--all with the same outcome of course. You will truly be the architect of your own success or demise, so listen to your attorney's advice, follow the roadmap they provide, and exercise common sense when deciding what path you want to take. Many divorcing couples who want to limit legal fees as much as possible, as well as the time it takes to settle, choose to sell their home. Surveys show that couples who resolved their property issues without court intervention completed the divorce in under a year. Those who could not agree and went to trial had to wait an average of 15 to 16 months. Some states require divorces to be resolved within a year, but dockets are full in most states (can
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