# Decision of who gets the house and pays child support



## thefam (Sep 9, 2014)

Hi all.

If both parties want the marital home, both can afford it, and custody of kids will be joint, how is it usually determined which spouse is awarded the house? Or does the judge usually make them sell the house anyway?

Also does parent who has the highest income always pay child support when there is joint custody, or could it be the parent with least amount of debt? (i.e., car note, car insurance, student loans, etc.,)

TIA


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## SentHereForAReason (Oct 25, 2017)

The Home
In my state if both parties want the home and cannot come to an agreement on who gets the house, the house is appraised and then it becomes a bidding war in a sense. The price is raised incrementally by $5K until someone bows out. So for example, if the house is worth 300K after the appraisal and you don't agree and it gets to $320K until someone bows out, that is where the equity is calculated. House is 'sold' for $320K to person that agreed to that price. You take what is owed and subtract that from the $320K, so if the total equity is then 60K for example, you split that in 2 and then give it to the party that is NOT keeping the house.

Child Support
This is all negotiable. In most cases it's usually just better to let the Child Support report run and have the part that gets it, take that money and then deal with the other factors. Primarily though, it's income. The person that makes more money is the one that will be paying child support So if it's 50/50 custody, then the equation is a quick one for the 'Friend of the Court'. It starts getting more messy if one parent has more parenting time than the other. The other stuff such as debt is usually reconciled in other ways, separate agreements.


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## SentHereForAReason (Oct 25, 2017)

I was looking at some of your other posts to get a background and it seems like you have some young children in the picture and things were going ok. Was this question for you or someone you know? Just curious.


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## thefam (Sep 9, 2014)

Hi thanks for the info. Googled it all kinds of ways and was only getting "it depends". 

No not for me, but for family member who is so devastated she can't seem to start doing what she needs to do to move on.


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## uhtred (Jun 22, 2016)

If it matters, its probably best to get input from an attorney. These are standard questions, but there could be details that change things.


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## honcho (Oct 5, 2013)

In general judges have a great deal of latitude regarding asset matters but at the same time wants the parties to make the decision before he does. He can delay the final. He can give his strong opinion on "if" he would rule how he would etc etc. Sometimes it does come down to a bidding war, most times one just concedes. Houses are often an emotional subject in divorce and you really need to turn off the emotions. Too many people overpay or over extend to keep the house and a year or two later regret it.


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## EleGirl (Dec 3, 2011)

thefam said:


> If both parties want the marital home, both can afford it, and custody of kids will be joint, how is it usually determined which spouse is awarded the house? Or does the judge usually make them sell the house anyway?


If a couple cannot agree on who gets the house, the judge will have it sold. A judge is not going to pick sides.

Sometimes an agreement can be reached in which one person agrees to pay the other the equity in the home out of their half of the marital assets. 



thefam said:


> Also does parent who has the highest income always pay child support when there is joint custody, or could it be the parent with least amount of debt? (i.e., car note, car insurance, student loans, etc.,)


If custody is 50/50 and one parent earns more, they will pay the other parent some child support. Child support is not negotiable. Each state has a formula that they use.

What state do you live in. I'm sure that there is something online that has your state rules on this.

Most states have an online child support calculator these days.


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