How Does Moving Out Affect Divorce?

Key Takeaways:

• Moving out of a shared home during a divorce can have multiple unanticipated consequences for your case.
• Moving out can negatively impact your custody and visitation claims, and it’s critical to stay actively involved with your children.
• It may also damage your claim to the home during the division of property.
• Moving out can establish financially unsustainable precedents and create financial challenges.
• When people move out, they often leave behind important items and documents.
• If you do ultimately decide to move out during a divorce, it’s important to consider all of the consequences to your case and have a strategy in place.

Moving out of a shared home during a divorce may sound like the most natural idea in the world. It can minimize stress, conflict, and aggravation for you, your spouse, and your kids.

While that may seem like a no-brainer on the surface, it can often have multiple unanticipated consequences and negatively impact your case. Moving out without fully understanding the effects is one of the biggest mistakes people make during a divorce.

You may feel you need to leave, or that you have to get out. Before you do, however, take the time to assess the potential impact.

It should also be noted that your spouse can’t kick you out without a court order.

Can Moving Out Too Soon Affect Child Custody?

One of the biggest impacts moving out of a shared home has on your relationship with your kids.
Not only does that affect your parental bond, but it can also actually damage your custody claims down the road.

Things are often tense at home by this point. Kids pick up on this. No one wants to fight in front of their children. You may think moving out will help alleviate that issue. In the short run, you may be right.

In the long run, however, your visitation and parenting time in the future may take a hit. If you don’t spend much time with them now, that will likely continue later on.

Courts prefer to minimize drastic changes for kids after divorce. This usually includes changing where and with whom they live, and also drastically altering parenting time.

How Can You Protect Your Custody Claims?

If you do move out during divorce, have a parenting plan already in place. This ensures you still get your time with the kids.

Protect your parenting time by leveraging your resources. See them when you have the chance and make them the priority. Maintain an active presence in their lives and their upbringing.

This demonstrates the desire to be a parent, which courts take into account.

The more involved you stay in their day-to-day activities, the more likely that is to continue after divorce. But if you only see them once a week, the court may look at that and think that’s an acceptable schedule for you, even if you believe otherwise.

It benefits you, your case, and your children to be as present as possible.

Related Reading: How Do I File For Divorce In Washington?

How Does Moving Out Impact Your Finances?

In addition to child custody issues, moving out also impacts your finances in multiple ways.

A home is usually the biggest purchase most people make in their lifetimes. As such, when it comes to the division of property, it’s often the most significant asset on the table.

Moving out of a property with your name on it may damage your claim to it later on.

In the meantime, you may also be obligated to continue paying bills during divorce, even when you no longer live there. This can even result in higher spousal support payments. If you pay that much now, it stands to reason, in the court’s eyes, that you can keep shelling out that amount.

Moving out also sets other financially unsustainable precedents.

When you establish two separate households, the court may assume the ongoing support of both is reasonable. So what started off as a temporary solution often becomes permanent.

This often strains your finances in both the short and long term.

Related Reading: What to Expect from a Child Custody Hearing

Don’t Forget Your Paperwork

People often leave important items behind. This may limit access to things they need during the divorce and beyond, especially documents.

Before you leave the house, be sure to collect:

• Bank records.
• Retirement account information.
• Credit card statements.
• Loan documents.
• Insurance policies.
• Wills.
• Birth certificates.
• Passports.
• Other financial records.

Don’t move out without them. Although much is done online, paper statements and documents may still be delivered to your home. Take steps to ensure you maintain access to this type of resource.

Keeping important items with you also provides a small measure of assurance that they aren’t being ‘accidentally’ lost or ‘inadvertently’ set on fire while you’re away.

Every situation is different. But in general, unless a court order specifically commands you to vacate, it may be in your best interests to put off moving out during a divorce. If you ultimately do, it is beneficial to have a strategy in place.

Related Reading: Bankruptcy Or Divorce: Which To File For First