My husband and I are divorced. We both have our names on the house..

As a realtor with over 14 years of experience in Virginia, my advice would be to protect your financial interest before the house goes on the market, not after you receive an offer. I assume your house is in Vienna, Virginia, here are a few things I would recommend. First, review your divorce decree and property settlement agreement. These documents may already specify how the proceeds from the sale should be divided. Just because both names are on the deed doesn't automatically mean the proceeds will be split 50/50. Second, contact the settlement or title company handling the sale and provide them with the relevant divorce documents. Make sure they understand how the proceeds are supposed to be distributed. Third, request a copy of the estimated seller's closing statement before settlement. This will show the mortgage payoff, closing costs, and estimated net proceeds. Most importantly, don't sign any agreement regarding the distribution of proceeds unless you're comfortable with it and it matches your legal entitlement. If there is any disagreement between you and your former spouse, I would strongly recommend consulting a Virginia family law attorney before moving forward. I've always believed that selling a home should bring clarity and financial peace of mind, not create another dispute. A little preparation before listing can help prevent much bigger problems at closing

If both of your names are still on the deed, I would not rely on a verbal agreement about how the proceeds will be divided. The divorce decree or separation/property settlement may already establish how the home and its equity are supposed to be handled. In Virginia, marital property is subject to equitable distribution, and the court can order jointly owned real estate to be sold and direct how the proceeds are allocated. Before listing the property, I would recommend: -Have your divorce decree and any property settlement agreement reviewed by your attorney. -Confirm who is legally entitled to what percentage of the net proceeds. -Have the title/closing company review the deed and divorce documents. -Make sure the written settlement instructions are provided to the settlement agent before closing. -Get a preliminary net sheet showing the expected proceeds after the mortgage, taxes, commissions, and other closing expenses. If your divorce judgment specifically awards you a certain amount or percentage, make sure that is documented with the closing attorney/title company. Don't assume that because both names are on the deed, the proceeds will automatically be split 50/50—the divorce order and other circumstances can matter. Disclaimer: This is general real estate information, not legal advice. Because you're dealing with both real estate title and a completed divorce, I strongly recommend having a Virginia family-law or real-estate attorney review your divorce documents and confirm your rights before the property is sold. — Juan Picos, Realtor

Nadia, the thing that actually guarantees you get your share is a written disbursement instruction signed by both of you and delivered to the settlement agent before closing, not the divorce decree by itself. That is the piece almost nobody tells you, so let me walk it through. At closing, the settlement agent in Virginia holds every dollar and pays it out according to instructions. If those instructions say "wire the net proceeds to the seller," and the seller is the two of you jointly, you are relying on your ex-spouse to hand you half afterward. If instead the instructions say "after payoff and costs, wire X to Nadia and Y to him, in these two separate accounts," the money never touches his hands. Same closing, completely different level of risk to you. Ask the settlement agent early whether they will issue two separate checks or wires, and get the split in writing from both of you well before the closing table. Most title companies do this routinely once they have signed instructions. Now the things to line up before you get there. Pull your divorce decree and any marital settlement agreement and find the exact language about the house. You are looking for four things: whether it says the property will be sold, how the proceeds are to be divided (a percentage or a formula), who decides the list price and accepts an offer, and who pays for repairs, carrying costs and the agent commission. If the decree spells all four out, your leverage is straightforward and the title company will follow it. If it is vague, that vagueness is where the fight will happen, and you want to fix it now rather than in the middle of escrow. Pull the current deed and see how title is actually vested. This is separate from the decree. If you still hold as tenants by the entirety, that form of ownership generally does not survive a divorce, and how it converts affects survivorship and creditor exposure. Also run a title search or ask a title company for a preliminary report so you find out now whether he has taken out a loan, a HELOC or run up a judgment lien against his interest since the divorce. Liens against his half come out of the proceeds at closing, and finding one on the day of closing is a genuinely bad afternoon. Do not sign a quitclaim deed transferring your interest to him unless you are being paid at that moment or the decree requires it. Signing away your ownership does not remove you from the mortgage, so you can end up with no equity and full liability. If he wants to keep the house, the clean version is that he refinances into his own name and buys out your equity at the same closing. If he will not cooperate with a sale at all, you are not stuck. Virginia gives any co-owner the right to file a partition action under Virginia Code section 8.01-81, and where dividing the property physically is impracticable or would cause great prejudice, the court can order the property sold and the proceeds divided after costs and liens under section 8.01-83. It is slow and it costs money, so it is a last resort rather than a first move, but it exists, and knowing it exists usually improves the negotiation before you ever need it. One tax item worth raising with your CPA before you sell rather than after. The federal exclusion on gain from a primary residence is $250,000 for a single filer, and you generally need to have owned and lived in the home two of the last five years. If you moved out at the divorce and he stayed, there is a rule that can let you count his period of occupancy toward your use test, but it usually needs to be reflected in the divorce instrument. That is exactly the kind of thing that is easy to fix now and impossible to fix after closing. I am a real estate professional, not an attorney or a CPA, so please have a Virginia family law attorney read the decree language and a tax professional look at the exclusion question. I work the Palos Verdes Peninsula and the South Bay here in Los Angeles County, so Vienna is well outside my market and I am not going to pretend to be local to you, but I would gladly refer you to a strong Northern Virginia agent who has handled divorce sales, because that experience matters a great deal in a sale like this one. Zoltan Peresztegi Zoltan

Nadia, the cleanest protection is getting the split in writing before the house is ever listed. If your divorce decree or settlement agreement already spells out who gets what, that document controls, and the settlement agent handling your closing can disburse proceeds as two separate checks instead of one joint payment. Ask for exactly that. If the decree is silent about the house, don't rely on a verbal understanding with your ex husband, have your divorce attorney or a local real estate attorney put a short written agreement in place first. And since both names are on title, nothing closes without both signatures, so you can't simply be cut out of the sale. I can't give legal advice, and Virginia procedure is outside my lane because my license is in California, so a Vienna attorney plus a local agent is the right team to walk you through the details. Alla Novytska, Realtor®, JohnHart Real Estate, DRE #02254775

Nadia, divorce sales are typically done as per the divorce decree. Additionally, since you are equal owners that are both on the deed; unless there is an alternative distribution agreement, the proceeds are going to be split between both of you equally. Keith Jean-Pierre Managing Principal The Dapper Agents Real Estate Operations in ALL 50 States