If you own a home with your partner, you can sell it at any time after you separate, before or after your divorce, as long as you both agree. Selling is one of the main options. One of you can also buy the other out, or you can keep the home for a while.

To make the split final, you usually need consent orders (orders a court makes on terms you've both agreed) or a binding financial agreement (a contract you each sign after getting legal advice). If one of you won't sell, a court can order the sale.

If you're separating and worried about what happens to the home, here's what to know first:

• Your property settlement (how you divide everything you own and owe) isn't final until it's formalised. You can sell by agreement, but an informal agreement on its own doesn't stop either of you applying to the court later.
• Most applications to the court to divide your property have a time limit: 12 months after a divorce takes effect, or two years after a de facto relationship ends.
• If you're both on the title, your ex can't sell the home without your signature unless a court orders it. If it's only in their name, you can ask the court to stop a sale.
• Transfers between you under court orders or a financial agreement are generally free of stamp duty. If the home has been your main residence, you can generally claim a full or partial exemption from capital gains tax (the tax on the profit when a property sells) when it's sold.

This is general information, not legal or financial advice. A family lawyer or Legal Aid can tell you how the rules apply to you, and the Family Relationship Advice Line on 1800 050 321 can point you to help.

Your options for the home: sell, buy out or wait

The common options are to sell, for one of you to buy the other out, or to keep the home for now. Each needs both of you to agree, or a court order, and none is final until it's formalised.

Selling might suit you if neither of you wants to stay. You split what's left after the loan and selling costs, as your orders or agreement say.

A buy-out means one of you pays the other for their share and takes over the home. The title is transferred into the name of the partner keeping it.

For example, a home worth $900,000 with $400,000 left on the mortgage has $500,000 in equity. If you agreed the partner keeping the home gets 55 per cent of that equity, they would pay the other $225,000. If they borrowed the whole payout, they'd need a loan of about $625,000 to cover the existing mortgage and the payout, before costs.

That example is simplified and assumes you agree on the home's value. A real property settlement divides everything you own and owe, including super, not just the home. And the lender decides whether the partner keeping the home can borrow enough.

Keeping the home for now might suit you if, for example, you want the children to finish the school year first. Put the arrangement in writing and formalise it: who lives there, who pays the mortgage and bills, and when or why the home will be sold.

What if my partner refuses to sell the house?

If your partner won't agree to sell, you can ask the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (in Western Australia, the Family Court of Western Australia) to order a sale. Before you apply, you generally have to try to resolve it and follow the court's pre-action steps. They usually run in this order:

1. Get legal advice and gather your financial documents: the title, loan statements, recent tax returns and super statements. You both have a legal duty to share all relevant financial information, and it starts before any court case.
2. Try to agree. Give your partner the court's pre-action information and, if it's safe, invite them to dispute resolution such as mediation. Family Relationship Centres can help with property disputes.
3. Send a notice of intention. It sets out the issues, the orders you want and a genuine offer, and gives your partner at least 14 days to reply. You also exchange a list of your assets, income and debts.
4. Apply to the court. The court can order that the home be sold, and set how it's sold, such as how the agent is chosen and the listing price.
5. If your partner still won't sign, the court can appoint an officer of the court, such as a registrar, to sign the sale documents for them.

The court can excuse you from the pre-action steps if family violence has been alleged or there's a risk of it, if the case is urgent, or for a few other reasons. The court lists its steps and exemptions when you can't agree.

If you're not safe at home, 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732) is free and open 24 hours a day. In an emergency, call 000.

Can my ex sell the house without my consent?

It depends on whose name is on the title. If you're both on it, your ex can't sell the whole property without your signature unless a court orders the sale. If the home is only in your ex's name, they can sign a sale on their own, but you can ask the court to stop it.

A title search from your state's land registry shows whose name the home is in. If it's only in your ex's name, the home can still count in your property settlement. If you own it as tenants in common, each with a set share, a co-owner can transfer their own share, but not yours.

If you think your ex is about to sell, the court can grant an injunction, an order stopping them, and it can deal with urgent cases quickly. It can also cancel or stop a sale made to defeat your claim, but it has to protect a genuine buyer's interests.

In some cases, you may be able to lodge a caveat, a notice on the title that can hold up a sale. Ask a family lawyer whether you have grounds.

Can my husband or wife make me sell my house?

Your husband, wife or partner can't make you sell on their own. But if you can't agree, either of you can apply to the court. It can order the sale of a home you own together, or one in either name, as part of the property settlement.

The court only makes orders it finds just and equitable, meaning fair in all the circumstances. A sale is just one of the outcomes it can choose.

How is the property divided?

There's no formula, and no presumption of a 50/50 split. Since 10 June 2025, the law sets out the steps a court follows, and the government says couples negotiating outside court should follow them too:

• List everything you own and owe, including super and debts.
• Look at what each of you contributed, with money and without it: wages, gifts and inheritances, homemaking and caring for children. The effect of family violence on a person's ability to contribute counts.
• Look at what each of you will need, based on things like age, health, income and earning capacity, and the care and housing of children under 18. Family violence, debts and money wasted on purpose or recklessly are also considered.
• Only make orders that are just and equitable in all the circumstances.

These rules apply to cases already under way too, unless the final hearing had already started. The Attorney-General's Department explains them in its fact sheet on the June 2025 property changes.

If you were in a de facto relationship, the court can usually only divide property if your relationship lasted at least two years, you have a child together, or one of a few other conditions applies. Other tests can apply if you've lived in different states.

In Western Australia, de facto couples come under WA's own law, so check with the Family Court of Western Australia.

How long do we have to sort out the property?

If you were married, most applications for property orders need to be made within 12 months after your divorce order takes effect, which is usually just over a month after it's made. If you were in a de facto relationship, the limit is two years after it ended.

After that, you can still apply if you both consent. Otherwise, you need the court's permission, which it gives only if saying no would cause hardship to the person applying or a child. Different limits apply to some applications, such as changing existing orders.

How do we make our agreement binding?

The usual ways to make a property agreement legally binding are consent orders or a binding financial agreement. An informal agreement, even a signed one, isn't enforceable as a property settlement, and either of you could still apply to the court later.

Consent orders are orders you both ask the court to make on terms you've already agreed. A registrar, one of the court's officials, usually approves them without a hearing. You don't need a lawyer, but the court still checks the split is just and equitable.

A binding financial agreement is a contract you make yourselves. It needs each of you to get independent legal advice before signing, and the court can still set it aside in some circumstances.

Your super can only be split formally, not by an informal agreement.

Stamp duty and tax if one of you keeps the home

When the home moves from one of you to the other under court orders or a binding financial agreement, federal family law generally removes state stamp duty.

Some states go further and accept an informal agreement or a declaration, while Western Australia charges nominal duty instead of the full rate. If any share goes to someone other than the two of you, such as a new partner, duty is usually payable. Some states also exempt transfers to your children, with their own conditions.

^{Sources: each revenue office's page, or for SA the Law Handbook and for the NT the Stamp Duty Act, read 16 October 2026 (listed below).}

Capital gains tax generally isn't due when the home passes between you under court orders, consent orders or a binding financial agreement. Instead, a rollover applies automatically, which defers the tax: the partner keeping the home takes on the other's original cost for that share, and that counts when they sell later.

With a financial agreement, the transfer also has to be because of the separation. An informal agreement doesn't get the rollover, so the person transferring their share may need to report a gain, unless the main residence exemption covers it.

If one of you takes over the home under court orders or a financial agreement, and it was the main residence of either of you, the partner keeping it can generally claim a full or partial main residence exemption when they sell.

For the full exemption, the home generally needs to have been the main residence of both of you, not rented out or used for business, and on 2 hectares or less.

Foreign residents can only claim the exemption in limited cases, such as after a relationship breakdown, and only if they've been a foreign resident for six years or less when they sell. If your former partner moved out well before the transfer, or if either of you lives overseas, it's worth asking a tax adviser.

If it was ever rented out, some of the gain may be taxed, although a home rented while you lived elsewhere can sometimes still be fully exempt. Our guide to tax on selling an investment property explains how the gain is worked out.

Selling the home during a separation: what to agree with your agent

If you're selling, agree on as much as you can before the property is listed:

• Who signs and who decides. Every owner on the title signs the agency agreement (your contract with the agent) and the sale contract, unless a court orders otherwise. Agree on who can approve an offer.
• The price and the method. Agree on the listing price, the lowest price you'd accept and whether you'll go to auction.
• Updates in writing to both of you, at the same time.
• Costs before the sale, such as repairs, cleaning or styling. If one of you pays, keep receipts so it can be repaid from the sale.
• Where the money goes when the sale completes, under your orders or agreement: usually the mortgage first, then the agent's commission and marketing, legal costs, and the rest split between you.

For your property settlement, you might need more than an agent's appraisal. In Western Australia, the Family Court notes that market appraisals usually can't be used as evidence of value, and a qualified valuer is used if the value is disputed.

Our guide to what your property is worth explains the difference between an online estimate, an agent's appraisal and a valuation. Before a formal valuation, a free estimate of your property's value is a quick way to see the range.

Look for an agent who has sold homes for separating couples and stays impartial between you. To plan the sale and agree on a budget, see our guides to selling your property and the costs of selling a house.

Maggie Owen used OpenAgent to find an agent when she sold her Queensland home after her divorce. She said her agents showed "care and compassion through a stressful time".

The mortgage and free help

Moneysmart's separation checklist suggests telling your lender you've separated, reviewing any redraw facility (money you've paid ahead that can be taken back out), and agreeing who pays in the short term.

Free help is available:

• The Family Relationship Advice Line, 1800 050 321, gives information and referrals, including to legal help. It's open 8am to 8pm on weekdays and 10am to 4pm on Saturdays, local time.
• Legal Aid gives free or low-cost help to people who are eligible. National Legal Aid lists the commission in each state.
• Financial counsellors are free. The National Debt Helpline, 1800 007 007, can connect you.

Where to check the details

• Consent orders and financial agreements (Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia)
• Dividing property in Western Australia (Family Court of Western Australia)
• Property and financial agreements and consent orders (Attorney-General's Department)
• When the relationship breakdown rollover applies and the main residence exemption after a relationship breakdown (ATO)
• Stamp duty: NSW, VIC, QLD, WA, TAS, ACT, NT (Stamp Duty Act), SA (Law Handbook)
• Family Relationship Advice Line (Family Relationships Online) and family law services and support (Attorney-General's Department)

Frequently asked questions about selling a property after a separation