If you're getting divorced, your first option may be to try to keep the family home. You need to consider the financial side of this, as you may have to give up something in order to keep it.

This is because your spouse likely also has a claim to the home. As you divide property, if you're going to keep the house, they may need other assets that have a similar value. 

But not everyone wants to keep the home anyway. That's just your first option. Here are two more to consider.

Keeping the home together

In some cases, two divorced individuals will continue to own a home together. They may live there, if they're doing something like birdnesting, where they allow their children to stay in the house even after the divorce. The parents can then use the house as a base where they both live when they have custody. Another potential reason to keep the home together is if they believe that the value of the house is going to go up in the near future and they want to sell it at that point.

Dividing the money

One of the easiest ways to go is simply to sell the house. This means that you can then divide the money between the two of you. That is a lot less complicated than trying to change ownership of the home or determine what assets need to be given to your ex in order for you to keep it. You just put the house up for sale and whenever it sells, something that happens fairly quickly these days, you decide if the price is right. Once the sale goes through, you just split the money in half.

No matter what you decide to do, your home is a very valuable asset and you need to make sure that you know about all of your legal options.