Wisconsin law requires judges to be equitable when dividing a divorcing couple’s marital estate. Your marital estate, of course, likely includes everything you and your husband or wife accumulated during your marriage. This includes real property, personal belongings, retirement accounts and debt.
If you and your soon-to-be ex-spouse own a vacation home, you likely have some options for dealing with the property during your divorce. Unfortunately, if you decide to sell the property and split the proceeds, you may encounter some difficulties. Here are three common ones.
1. Determining value
Because vacation homes are often unique, valuing them can be exceedingly challenging. While considering comparable sales may give you a good idea of how much your property is worth, your spouse’s appraiser may reach a dramatically different conclusion.
2. Finding a buyer
Even if your vacation home is in an in-demand area, such as Door County, you may have trouble finding a buyer for a couple reasons. First, there may be too much inventory on the market. Similarly, because financing the purchase of a vacation home is often tough, you may have to track down a cash buyer.
3. Arranging the sale
Until your vacation home sells, you and your spouse must pay to maintain the property. You also may need to stage the home for a quick sale. During this time, you may or may not be able to use the property.
If you are having difficulty arranging the sale of your vacation home, mediation or another type of alternate dispute resolution may be helpful.