Tanking Market Makes It Tougher To Split As Divorcing Spouses Now Fight Over Who "Doesn't" Get The House

In South Florida, The Miami Herald reports:

• During the real-estate boom, couples who divorced would fight over who got the house, betting that the winner could get rich from rapidly escalating prices. [...] Now, in a twist on the classic divorce dispute, houses have become hot potatoes for couples divorcing during the downturn. 'It's like, `You take the house!' 'No, You take the house.' 'I don't want it, you take it,' '' said Drew Sheridan, a veteran divorce lawyer in Kendall.

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• ''Instead of an asset where they used to fight for occupancy, possession and ownership, they're now fighting to abandon their personal interest,'' said William Koreman, a divorce lawyer in Hollywood. "Neither of them wants the property because they would be accepting a huge liability.''

• In extreme cases, a homeowner has used the mortgage as a weapon of spite, deliberately sabotaging his or her own credit to destroy the credit of the former partner, said Adam Franzen, a Fort Lauderdale family lawyer. Even when couples try to play nice, their disintegrating financial condition turns an amicable split into a war of the roses.

For more, see When couples split, the home is a hot potato (In this period of a declining housing market and negative equity, there's a different kind of divorce battle for custody of the house -- neither spouse wants it).