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Jack and Terri had been married 14 years and had two small children, ages and 10 and 7, when they divorced. Terri had been a stay-at-home mom and Jack had an auto body repair shop that he had started one year into the marriage. Although this couple did not particularly like each other, they were not at each other's throats. When they divorced, they had been living only on Jack's salary and, by the way, spending all of it, at least as far as the wife knew.
When Terri filed for divorce, Jack refused to get out of the house and they continued to live together during the divorce process. At the end of the proceedings, the court ordered the house to be sold and the wife was to get the large share of the monies in light of the husband's business. Neither party made a move to sell the house, and they continued to live together well after the divorce.
WHY DOTHEY DO IT?
Interestingly enough, parties living together after the divorce is commonplace throughout the country. Why, after filing for divorce and indicating that the relationship is over, does this occur? Many couples choose to do this for a variety of reasons. In this case, one of the major reasons was the finances. Neither party could afford to Uve on their own given the salary that Jack made. Had he been required to pay his wife and children the amount of money that the court ordered, he could not have found a place to live and Terri could not have afforded to live on what she would have received in support. Even the proceeds from the house, in this diminished market, after the cost of sale were not going to be enough for the two parties to buy separate housing.
In today's economy, with the value of houses falling and with many people having refinanced to get a lower interest rate, the amount of equity left in the real estate is no where near what it was four or five years ago. Unfortunately, while the value of housing has fallen, the cost of living has not, and many couples have not saved sufficiently to put a down payment on new housing. When a...