3 Frequently Asked Questions about Divorcing in Ontario

As a child of a messy divorce myself and having helped many of my clients through this over the last 21 years, I have a few tips I can add.

I have also created a specialized FREE Divorce Bootcamp Course to help guide those are going through this fully understand the real estate element of this process. It goes without saying that you will each need a lawyer to assist you on the other elements of the process.

FAQ 1: Please provide 3 pieces of advice you suggest for people who plan to divorce within the next 12 months?

Although each case is unique, the more civil the breakup, the better. I have seen messy divorces where the lawyers end up with 1/3rd of the left over home equity due to so much fighting -Treat it like a business break up. Decide early on if ONE of you is keeping the house or not. Get an appraisal done as early as possible to determine home value at the time of divorce. -Keep the house clean and updated. The added stress of decluttering and moving can be tremendous so make it easier on yourselves by doing a room declutter each week until all rooms in the home are clean and spacious. My Virtual Staging program is ideal with vacant properties especially popular during the pandemic as they are easier to keep sanitized. -

FAQ 2: What advice do you have if they share kids and need to divide up responsibility? Are there ways to do that without losing out financially? As a child who went through this, I know the right and wrong things to do for divorce couples. Keep the kids informed but do not speak ill of the other in front of them. This can cause lasting effects.

FAQ 3: How to manage non-liquid assets like homes, brick and mortar businesses, and jewelry?

When it comes to handling the home sale, very often one of the owners will not want to sell. Either way, its best to keep the reason for the sale confidential vs telling every local realtor your life story. Once again, treat it like a business breakup if the personal relationship is no longer in place. For all the other major issues, I go into detail on this via the bootcamp class FREE Divorce Bootcamp Course