How To Handle A Divorce While Still Living Together

Posted on: 21 September 2020

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It's a difficult time in a family's life when you decide the marriage is over and it's time to get a divorce. There is a lot to consider. This is including the children's custody, financial considerations, and whether or not you want to sell the house. If you decide you want to stay living in the same house for the time being due to financial constraints or other reasons, you can still get your divorce done while maintaining a civil relationship with your ex.

Here are some legal ways to handle your divorce while still living together. Contact a divorce attorney to help you draw up any agreements.

Care Of The Children

During a divorce parents will work on who gets custody of the children. This could be shared custody or visitation for one parent. When you are still living together and plan to for a while, you might hold off on the custody issues for the time being. Instead, you will need to work out other arrangements for your children's care.

For example, will you get separate free time with your kids without the other parent being around? Are you going to stick to what you have been doing during your marriage in regards to picking the kids up from school or activities with them? Or, are you going to create a different schedule so each parent has equal time with their children without the other parent involved?

Your divorce attorney can help you draw up what arrangements you would like to make regarding your children's care.

Financial Arrangements

Another consideration you must make is how will you handle the financial arrangements during your divorce while still living together? You will need to work out who will pay for which bills, who pays the mortgage, and who pays the insurance. You will need to work out if you will be equally responsible for your children financially or will one parent be responsible for the bulk of the financials?

You could opt to stay with the arrangements you already have in place, or create an agreement on splitting the bills, and/or exactly how much each partner is responsible for. Your divorce attorney can work with you to create an agreement that both of you can agree to.

Create A Plan And A Timeline For Deciding What To Do About The Home

While it might be possible to live together for a while, you might not want to spend years living with your ex. In this respect, it's a good idea to create a plan and a timeline for what you want to do with the house. For example, will you one day sell it and split the proceeds? Will one partner buy out the other, and how long do you think that will take to accomplish?

Work with your divorce attorney to create a timeline and legal agreement to decide and act on what you will do with the house. This will give you a goal to work toward, and a timeframe for how long you have to get it done.