Division of a one-room apartment during a divorce: procedure, procedure, documents

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A one-room apartment can be a good start to married life, but in the event of a divorce, it can turn into a subject of disputes and disagreements between husband and wife. At first glance, it seems that it is impossible to divide a joint one-room apartment - this is not so, especially if the spouses are ready to resolve the issue peacefully. But even if a peaceful way to resolve the conflict is excluded, spouses always have the opportunity to resort to judicial mediation.

In this article we will look at what rules for dividing a matrimonial 1-room apartment are provided for by law and how this division is carried out in practice.

General provisions of the law on the division of marital property

The “odnushka” section is a fairly common, but not simple situation. From a procedural point of view, the division of a one-room apartment is no different from the division of other property. The difficulty lies in the methods of resolving a property dispute and the practical application of the law.

When is a 1-room apartment not subject to division?

Before proceeding with the division of the apartment, it is necessary to establish the legal regime of ownership. An apartment can only belong to a husband or wife if it was purchased before marriage (or during marriage - with personal funds), was received by inheritance or as a gift. In this case, it is not subject to division at all in accordance with Article 36 of the RF IC.

So, the apartment is not divided if...

was acquired by one of the spouses before marriage;
was privatized by one spouse, while the second spouse refused to participate in privatization;
was received as a gift;
was inherited;
was acquired during marriage, but not for joint, but for the personal funds of one of the spouses.

Thus, a personal apartment is not divided. However, in some cases it can still be recognized as joint marital property and divided, even if not equally:

if it belonged to one of the spouses, but for joint money or for the money of the second spouse it was improved and gained in value;
if it was purchased on credit by one of the spouses before marriage, but the loan was repaid during marriage - at the expense of joint funds or funds of the second spouse.

When is a 1-room apartment divided equally?

If the apartment was purchased during marriage, according to Article 34 of the RF IC, it belongs to the spouses by right of joint ownership and is divided equally upon divorce. Moreover, it does not matter who made the purchase, with what funds it was made, or in the name of which spouse it was registered.

Thus, it is important to understand: only an apartment that was purchased during marriage can be divided.

Question

Three years ago, my husband bought a one-room apartment in which we now live. The apartment was bought with money earned mainly by himself. Since I was caring for a child and did not have a constant, high income, my contribution to the purchase was only a quarter of the cost of the apartment - this is the amount that accumulated on my salary card over the last year before going on maternity leave. Now the husband insists on dividing the apartment and claims 3/4 shares.

Answer

According to the provisions of the law (Article 34 of the RF IC), the property of spouses acquired during marriage includes income from the labor activities of each of them, (...) other property acquired by spouses during marriage, regardless of which spouse contributed the funds, in whose name this property was acquired. Thus, the apartment that your husband bought belongs to the two of you by right of joint ownership. It doesn’t matter who earned more - you and your husband have completely equal rights, and in the event of a divorce, the apartment will be divided equally between you.

So, joint marital property is divided into equal shares.

However, in some cases it is possible to increase or decrease the share of one of the spouses - the grounds for this are provided for in the law. If we are talking about a peaceful agreement between husband and wife, then they have the right to divide the property they own at their own discretion - equally or unequally. If we are talking about the judicial procedure for dividing joint property, then the court can violate the principle of equality of shares only if...

The increase in the share occurs in the interests of minor children who remain living with the husband or wife after the divorce;
A decrease in the share occurs due to the husband or wife’s non-participation in providing for the family without good reason or unreasonable spending of family funds to the detriment of the interests of the family.

Possible section options

What are the options for dividing a 1-room apartment:

First, make a legal redevelopment, where there will be isolated rooms dividing one room in half. Then register shares in the property for both spouses.
Establishing conditions, procedures, who should use housing and how.
Re-registration of the entire apartment to one person with mandatory payment of compensation by the second spouse.
Reimbursement of the cost of a share of an apartment with a car, part of other real estate, other property, services.
Sell the apartment and divide the proceeds.

Advantages of dividing property through an agreement:

The two of you will determine the volume of shares and the conditions for using them.
It is possible to pay compensation and keep the second part of the apartment.
If it will be difficult to maintain the apartment, you can insist that the second spouse take ownership of the other half.
Saving time and nerves. Legal proceedings take a disproportionately long time compared to concluding an agreement with a notary. Here you also save on costs, because... when going to court, you will have to pay much more for various services, plus state fees. In the case of drawing up an agreement, it will only be enough to pay for the services of a notary office.

Question:

How to divide an unfinished one-room apartment?

Lawyer's response:

This is a complex process. The difficulty is the fact that it is extremely difficult to allocate shares in an unfinished residential property. The most likely scenario here would be for a notary to draw up an agreement between the spouses, in which they themselves will determine which parts will belong to whom. But we must remember that the object cannot belong entirely to anyone until it is completed and put into operation. Until this happens, all divisions will be made only on paper. Therefore, if you cannot reach an agreement, go to court.

How to divide a one-room apartment during a divorce?

From a procedural point of view, there are two ways to resolve the issue of dividing a one-room apartment:

Peaceful, voluntary agreement. The married couple comes to a compromise decision on the distribution of all jointly acquired property, including a one-room apartment, draws up a written agreement that contains all the agreements reached, and certifies it in a notary office;
Trial. A married couple who, for various reasons, cannot peacefully resolve a property dispute, can apply to the court with a claim for the division of joint property.

According to Article 38 of the RF IC, a married couple can divide joint property not only during divorce proceedings or after a divorce, but even during marriage - by mutual consent of the spouses or at the request of one of them.

By agreement

A married couple can independently divide everything that belongs to them by drawing up and signing a written agreement (if desired, the marital agreement can be certified by a notary office). This right is provided for in paragraph 2 of Article 38 of the RF IC.

A marital agreement on the division of an apartment has many advantages:

Individuality. A marital agreement can provide for absolutely any order and method of dividing joint property, which takes into account the interests, needs and desires of the husband and wife, the main condition being their mutual consent. Another mandatory condition is that the marital agreement cannot violate the property rights of the husband or wife, for example, contain a condition according to which the apartment goes to one spouse, and the other is left with nothing.
Certainty. When going to court with a claim for division of an apartment, it is difficult to predict how the trial will go and what the court decision will be. Often, co-owners of an apartment have to appeal a court decision that does not meet their expectations. With the voluntary division of property, everything happens according to an agreed plan.
Efficiency. As is known, judicial procedures, from preparing a claim to obtaining a court decision, last a long time and take a lot of time. Discussion of the terms of a peace agreement, drafting and signing - this happens much faster.
Saving. The same applies to monetary expenses - compared to litigation, the procedure for concluding a marital agreement entails minimal financial costs.
Civility. Divorce is an emotionally difficult period for men and women, which is often accompanied by disputes and quarrels. The judicial procedure, as a rule, only increases the tension in the relationship and aggravates the discord, while the preparation of a written agreement promotes mutual understanding and compromise.

But a marital agreement also has a drawback - it must be fulfilled by the parties as voluntarily as it was voluntarily concluded. And if one of the spouses suddenly “changes his mind” and refuses to fulfill the terms of the agreement reached, the second spouse will have to turn to a judicial authority to resolve the dispute. Sometimes, during the process of dividing an apartment, it becomes clear that the agreement was drawn up through moral pressure, violence, and threats - then it can be declared invalid through the court.

Procedure

What will be the procedure for the spouses if they decide to draw up an agreement on the division of the apartment? Everything is very simple:

The spouses decide on the division of the apartment;
Spouses (on their own or with the help of a lawyer) draw up a document that will correctly and accurately set out all the agreements reached regarding the division of joint property;
The finished document is subject (at the request of the spouses) to notarization;
If a marital agreement makes changes to the ownership of an apartment, they must be registered with the Rosreestr authorities.

You can enter into a marital agreement at any time - during marriage or after divorce. The main thing is to do this before the joint apartment is divided by the court at the request of one of the spouses.

Sample agreement

A husband and wife can agree on everything orally, but in order for the agreement reached to have legal force, it must be formalized in a written document. Notarization is not required.

The document must contain the following information:

Full name, date of birth, place of residence, passport details of the parties;
information about the marital status of the parties (married/divorced);
a list of property at the time of division with a detailed description of each property object (if we are talking about an apartment - address, floor, area, number of rooms);
date and reason for purchasing the apartment;
ownership of the apartment;
cost of a shared apartment;
method of dividing a joint apartment (read more about possible methods of dividing a one-room apartment below);
additional conditions;
date of;
signatures of the parties.

Documentation

Since the marital agreement must contain accurate information about the spouses, as well as about the apartment and other property that is subject to division, the following documents may be required during its preparation:

passports of the parties;
marriage/divorce certificate;
technical, title deeds to the apartment (they will also be required to register changes in the register of real estate rights);
appraisal documents for the apartment.

Copies of documents are attached to each copy of the marital agreement. It is important to keep a copy of the agreement in case you have to file a claim in court.

Instructions for dividing a three-room apartment

The division can be made through an oral agreement between the owners. It is enough to simply re-register the property to other owners. If there are doubts or suspicions, then a notarial agreement can be previously concluded between them, which will describe all the features of the future section, the procedure and other features. In addition, if voluntary division is not possible, as well as in the case of division during divorce, a judicial option can be used to resolve the problem.

Agreement

Most often, this type of division is used in divorce. Let's consider it. It is understood that the former spouses are ready to negotiate with each other.

Procedure

The spouses are discussing among themselves the issue of dividing a three-room apartment and other property. Any options that suit both parties can be chosen. Moreover, former spouses can even make an unequal division if one of them is ready to give up some part of their share (in the usual case, the division is made in equal parts).
All agreements reached are recorded in the agreement.
The document is certified by a notary.
The spouses act in accordance with the provisions of the certified agreement.

Documents and agreement

The notary does not care who actually owns the property and what features are indicated in it, since such papers can only be signed voluntarily. All you need is the passports of both parties and the agreement itself

agreement on the division of a three-room apartment

Since this type of notarization requires payment of a state fee, which, in turn, is calculated based on the market value of the property, you must first order an appraisal report from a licensed company.

Expenses

Subclause 5 of clause 1 of Article 333.24 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation indicates that for performing such notarial actions it is necessary to pay 0.5% of the value of the agreement (the price of all objects specified in it). At the same time, the payment cannot be less than 300 rubles and more than 20 thousand rubles. In addition, you need to pay the notary himself (about 3-4 thousand) and additionally, in Rosreestr, for the re-registration of property rights (2 thousand).

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Example: If the cost of an apartment is 5 million rubles, the total expenses will be 20+3+2=25 thousand rubles. 0.5% of 5 million is 25 thousand, but the payment cannot be more than 20 thousand, therefore only the maximum possible amount is taken into account. The notary takes 3 thousand and another 2 must be given to Rosreestr.

Trial

It is almost impossible to force one or more owners to sell their share or give permission for certain actions. The only option is if these owners commit illegal actions.

Example: Petya, one of the owners of a three-room apartment, rented out his part to third parties. However, the other owners do not agree with this, with whom Petya did not coordinate his actions. They have the right to sue Petya so that he terminates the lease agreement, but they still will not be able to force him to sell them his part of the property.

As a consequence of all of the above, court proceedings are most relevant for married couples planning a divorce, but who are unable to agree on the division of property on their own.

Procedure

Conduct a real estate assessment (as in the case of an agreement, it is required to determine the amount of the state duty).
File a claim.
Send it to the court at the place of registration or at the location of the disputed real estate.
Pay the state fee.
Wait for the court's decision and act in accordance with the provisions specified in it.

Documents and statement of claim

You must provide the court with:

Identity documents.
Statement of claim.
Receipt for payment of state duty.
Documents confirming ownership of real estate.

In addition, you may need a certificate of divorce, marriage, birth and other documents that can prove the plaintiff’s case.

Expenses

The amount of the state duty is determined based on clause 1, clause 1, Article 333.19 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. The legislation provides for a breakdown by amount, but in the case of a three-room apartment, the cost of which will clearly be more than 1 million rubles, only one option is relevant. You will have to pay 0.5% of the amount over 1 million rubles, but not more than 60 thousand rubles, and an additional fixed payment of 13,200.00 rubles.

Example: An apartment costs 5 million rubles. 4 million rubles are taken into account. 0.5% of them is 20 thousand rubles. We add 13.2 thousand here and get a total payment of 33,200.00 rubles.

Through the court

A dispute that cannot be resolved through peaceful negotiations and agreements can be resolved in court.

Procedure

What should a husband or wife do if the issue of dividing a one-room apartment is possible only in court? The procedure will be as follows:

Preparation of a statement of claim.

Below you will be given detailed recommendations regarding the preparation of a statement of claim, as well as a sample on the basis of which you can draw up a claim yourself. In addition, our portal employs lawyers who are ready to advise you free of charge on any issue related to the division of marital property;

Preparation of a package of documents;
Estimation of the cost of the apartment.

The cost of the apartment is indicated in the technical documents. However, the indicated inventory value of the apartment is significantly lower than the market value. To determine the market value of an apartment, you need to seek the services of an expert company or an independent appraiser. The appraisal report, which is issued based on the results of the assessment, will indicate the adequate cost of the apartment, which depends on numerous factors - location, condition of the house, number of floors, layout. More information about property valuation can be found in the article “Property valuation when dividing marital property.”

Calculation and payment of the state fee for filing a claim;
Filing a claim with a judicial authority;

Before going to the judicial authority, it would be useful to find out the days and hours of operation of the office for accepting claims - this will save your time.

Participation in court hearings;
Obtaining a copy of the court decision;
Registration of changes in ownership of an apartment with the Rosreestr authority.

Statement of claim

Particularly strict rules apply to drawing up a statement of claim - since this is a procedural document, it must have a clear structure and content; it is unacceptable to draw it up in free form. In the event of a serious discrepancy between the statement of claim and the form and content provided for in Articles 131-132 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation, the court may leave it without motion, obliging the plaintiff to make the necessary changes within the time allocated for this, and if the plaintiff fails to comply with the court’s instructions, the claim is returned.

To avoid such adverse consequences, when drawing up a statement of claim, use the recommendations below and a ready-made sample claim prepared by a lawyer. And if you still have questions or need help, contact a lawyer on our portal for a free consultation.

The statement of claim has the following structure:

The so-called “hat”:

The name and location of the judicial authority to which the claim is filed;
Plaintiff's details: full name, place of residence, telephone number;
Defendant's details: full name, place of residence, telephone number;
Information about other participants in the trial (third parties, representatives of the parties): Full name, place of residence, telephone number;
Cost of claim;
Main part of the claim:
Date, place of registration of marriage between the plaintiff and defendant, date and place of divorce;
Presence of minor children, information about children: full name, date of birth, place of residence;
A complete list of joint property that is subject to division between spouses, the date and basis of acquisition, the distinctive features of each property object (if a joint one-room apartment is subject to division, you must indicate its address, number of floors of the building, area, date and method of acquisition);
The reason why joint property should be divided;
The method of division that the plaintiff proposes and its justification, a link to supporting documents (for example, if the plaintiff asks to increase his share, you need to indicate the basis for this - after the divorce, the children remain living with him, in addition, you need to refer to a marital agreement or a court decision, determining the place of residence of the children, attach to the claim an extract from the house register at the place of residence);
The defendant’s consent or disagreement to the division of joint marital property;
Reference to the norms of legislation on which the claims are based (Article 254 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, 34, 36-38 of the RF IC);
List of attachments to the statement of claim;
Date of filing the claim;
Signature of the plaintiff (signature of the representative on the power of attorney).

Documentation

The statement of claim must be accompanied by documents that confirm all the information specified in the claim and prove the legality of the claims. The list of documents may be different, depending on the individual characteristics of the situation - a lawyer on our portal can provide you with a free consultation and assistance with the preparation of a package of documents.

Below you are offered an approximate list of documents:

Copies of the statement of claim according to the number of participants in the trial;
Copies of the parties’ passports;
A copy of the marriage or divorce certificate;
Copies of children's birth certificates;
Copies of title documents for the apartment (sale and purchase agreement, gift, exchange, mortgage agreement - if the apartment was purchased on credit, privatization agreement, inheritance), which confirm the right of personal/joint ownership of the property;
Copies of technical documents for the apartment (technical passport, apartment plan (BTI);
Copies of appraisal documents confirming the cost of the joint apartment;
Copies of documents confirming the purchase or improvement of an apartment using personal/joint funds;
Documents (certificate, extract) about family composition at the place of residence;
Receipt for payment of the amount of state duty.

All documents (including the statement of claim) are submitted in the same number of copies as the number of participants in the trial. The distribution of documents to the participants in the process is carried out by the court office.

State duty

The amount of the state duty for filing a claim of a property nature is calculated based on the price of the claim in accordance with Article 333.19 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation. The price of the claim is the value of the share that the plaintiff claims when dividing the disputed apartment. It, in turn, is determined depending on the appraised value of the apartment.

The formula by which the state duty is calculated consists of a fixed amount and a percentage rate. The higher the value of the share claimed by the plaintiff, the higher the price of the claim, therefore, the greater the amount of state duty you will have to pay. For more information on how to correctly calculate the amount of state duty, read the article “State duty when dividing an apartment during a divorce.” If you still have questions, you can ask our legal consultants for free.

A receipt confirming payment of the state fee should be attached to the statement of claim. Without this document, the claim will be abandoned.

Procedure

After the statement of claim is filed by the plaintiff and accepted by the court office, the court begins preparations for the trial - it checks the claim, sets the date and place of the court hearing, sends documents and subpoenas to the participants in the trial.

At the court hearing, the court considers the claim and documents, listens to the parties, evaluates the evidence and testimony of the parties. Until the court decision is made, the parties have the opportunity to enter into a settlement agreement, which will be approved by the court and will have the legal force of a court decision.

Settlement agreement between the parties

If during the trial the parties decide to reach an agreement on their own, the court should only facilitate this - such an outcome of the trial is more favorable for the parties. A settlement agreement can be reached either orally (in this case, the parties’ agreements on the division of the joint apartment are entered into the minutes of the court session) or in the form of a written document (in this case, the document is added to the case file). If the court does not see in the peace agreement any violations of the law or infringement of the property rights of the parties, it issues a ruling to approve the settlement agreement.

Compliance with the terms of the settlement agreement is mandatory for the parties - in legal force it is equivalent to a court decision. If one of the parties evades performing the actions provided for in the agreement, at the request of the other party, the court issues a writ of execution for forced execution.

Judgment

If the parties cannot conclude an amicable agreement, the court makes a decision on the division of joint property at its own discretion, based on the studied materials of the case.

When making a decision on the division of a joint one-room apartment, the court takes into account the time and method of acquisition, the number of owners and tenants of the apartment at the time of division, who will live in the apartment after the division, with whom minor children will live, whether the parties have other housing, whether there is another equivalent property of the parties.

As a rule, the shares of spouses in joint property are recognized as equal. The court can deviate from the principle of equality of shares in exceptional cases, which were mentioned above (increase the share - when minor children live with one of the spouses, reduce - in case of careless spending of the family budget, the absence of an equal contribution to the material support of the family by one of the spouses).

The court can divide the apartment into shares, but cannot oblige the owners to sell their shares, since this is contrary to civil law, which gives owners the right to own, use, and dispose of property at their own discretion. As mentioned above, the actions of the court should be aimed at and contribute to the peaceful resolution of the dispute. Below we will look at what may be the methods for dividing a joint one-room apartment, or what the procedure for using a joint living space may be if its division is impossible.

Determining the proportions of shares

Let's determine from the very beginning that property acquired by spouses during marriage belongs to the wife and husband under the right of common joint ownership, even if one of them did not have independent income for a good reason (study, housekeeping, child care, illness) or income.

Only that property is subject to division, the ownership of which was acquired after marriage through purchase, exchange or investment in a new building. Article 57 of the Family Code of Ukraine provides an exclusive list of cases when one of the spouses solely owns real estate (including residential) acquired during marriage, namely: inheritance, gift, acquisition for own funds, privatization (in the manner of free privatization). In this case, there is nothing to divide.

But there may be the following option: one of the spouses invested part of the money earned before marriage into the purchase of a third of the apartment (and can prove this in court), in which case he will no longer own half of this real estate, but two-thirds.

Exceptions to equality

The rule for determining the share of each spouse in jointly acquired property is established in paragraph 1 of Art. 70 SKU. In the case of division of property, which is the object of common joint property of spouses, the shares of the wife and husband in the property are equal. But there are exceptions: agreement between spouses on shares in property, a marriage contract, and other points should be considered in more detail.

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Pest

The court may also deviate from the principle of equality of shares between spouses, taking into account certain circumstances. For example, if one of the spouses did not care about the material support of the family, destroyed, concealed or damaged common property, used it to the detriment of the interests of the family, then according to paragraph

2 tbsp. 70 SKU its share may be reduced. But in order for such circumstances to be taken into account during division, it will be necessary to prove that all this really happened.

Mortgage

There are also circumstances that can significantly affect the determination of the shares of spouses - these are debt obligations. If the spouses are paying off the mortgage at the time of separation, the question inevitably arises as to who will pay it after the separation.

Theoretically, the balance of the loan payment can be divided between the spouses in equal shares. But in practice this, as a rule, does not happen. It may turn out that a conscientious spouse will lose his share of real estate due to the dishonesty of the other. The loan will be repaid by the spouse who took it. In this case, the source of loan repayment will be the income received by the spouse after the division, that is, his personal income. This is precisely the very circumstance that is of significant importance, which the court can and should take into account when determining the shares of the spouses in the property,

Children

Another circumstance in favor of increasing the share of one of the spouses may be children. By a court decision, the share of property of one of the spouses can be increased if minor children and/or a disabled adult son or daughter live with her or him, but only on the condition that the amount of alimony received is insufficient to ensure their physical and spiritual development or treatment.

Methods for dividing a one-room apartment

Spouses who own a one-room apartment are faced with the difficult issue of dividing their housing. Yes, dividing a one-room apartment is not the same as dividing a plot of land or a cash deposit. But since the law says that all jointly acquired property is divided equally between husband and wife, this means that the apartment can also be divided. Spouses can find a solution on their own by drawing up a written agreement, or they can file a lawsuit and obtain a court decision on the division of the apartment.

Methods for dividing a one-room apartment can be as follows:

Carrying out redevelopment of the apartment and each spouse receiving a share allocated in kind.

It must be said that such a decision in relation to a one-room apartment is made extremely rarely, since dividing a small living space into two full-fledged living spaces is almost impossible due to technical limitations (two full-fledged living spaces must be separated, must have different entrances and be equipped with bathrooms, kitchens, other utility rooms). But we cannot fail to mention this method of dividing an apartment - exceptions are always possible.

However, since this method of division is not applicable to most residential premises, the owners of a one-room apartment can rely on the provision of paragraph 2 of Article 247 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, according to which the owner of a share in the common property has the right to own and use a part of the common property commensurate with his share.

Determining the procedure for using common living quarters

Despite the fact that the allocation of a share in a one-room apartment is impossible, each of the spouses, nevertheless, retains the right to own, use and dispose of the share belonging to him. He can live in the apartment, or he can donate, sell, or rent out his share. However, it is important to remember the provision of Article 250 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation on the pre-emptive right of purchase, which belongs to the co-owner. Only if the husband or wife refuses to enter into a transaction regarding the share, this transaction can be concluded with third parties.

Unfortunately, only in the theory of civil law is it possible to establish the procedure for divorced spouses living together in the same apartment; in real life, this is very problematic - due to the unfavorable emotional climate between cohabitants and the reluctance to live together. Sale, lease and other transactions with a “conditional share” are also almost impossible without the consent of the second owner.

Transfer of a one-room apartment to one of the spouses with the obligation to pay the other spouse monetary compensation equal to the value of his share

According to the provisions of paragraph 2 of Article 247 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, if it is impossible to allocate a share in kind, the owner has the right to receive compensation for the value of his share. This is the decision that is made by the court in cases of division of one-room apartments in most cases, and it is this decision that the spouses themselves often resort to on their own initiative.

The practical implementation of this method of division involves...

Conducting an assessment of the cost of the apartment;
Making a decision about which spouse will receive housing and who will receive monetary compensation;
Determining the amount of monetary compensation that the other spouse will receive is proportional to his share.

In most cases, the shares of the co-owner spouses are equal. However, exceptions are also possible, suggesting an unequal division of the apartment by agreement of the parties or as a result of court proceedings (for example, if it is determined that the contribution of one of the spouses is more or less, that on the grounds provided for by law it is possible to increase or decrease the spouse’s share).

Offset of share with other joint property

Another optimal method of division is to compensate the second spouse for the cost of his share not with a sum of money, but with equal property from the jointly acquired property, for example, a car, land, country house, etc. In fact, this is also compensation proportional to the size of the share, but it is paid not only in cash, but in the form of equivalent property.

Sale of an apartment with subsequent division of proceeds

In the end, if other methods of dividing a one-room apartment are not suitable for spouses, there is always the opportunity to sell the property and divide the proceeds from the sale.

However, in this case there are also pitfalls.
In practice, the court can only approve a settlement agreement between the spouses on the sale of an apartment, but cannot force the owners to dispose of the real estate they own. In addition, the procedure for selling an apartment and the subsequent division of money is cumbersome and difficult; difficulties arise with the market assessment of the value of the apartment, which is often inflated, the lengthy search for buyers and the duration of the purchase and sale transaction. Attention!

Due to frequent changes in legislation, information sometimes becomes outdated faster than we can update it on the website.
All cases are very individual and depend on many factors. Basic information does not guarantee a solution to your specific problems.

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Author of the article

Irina Garmash

Family law consultant.

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How does the legal status of residential premises affect their division?

There are several options for the legal status of any home. The apartment may be located:

in shared ownership, in such cases each spouse owns a share of the residential premises;
in the personal property of the husband or wife;
in joint ownership, this occurs in cases where the shares of co-owners are not determined.

Accordingly, the possibility and procedure for its division will be determined in direct dependence on the legal status of a particular apartment.

The first option is the simplest: whatever share the spouse owns, that’s what he will get during the division. Most often, spouses own 50% of the living space and upon division it is divided in half.

The second option is the most difficult for the section. The law determines that the personal property of spouses is not subject to division, that is, in cases where an apartment was purchased by one of them before marriage or received as a gift or inherited, then it is his personal property and the second spouse cannot claim it during division .

But it's not that simple. During the marriage, it could be significantly refurbished and improved, thanks to which the market value of the residential premises could increase significantly, while the costs of improvement were borne by both spouses. In such cases, if the second spouse proves his contribution to increasing the value of the residential premises, he will be entitled to a share in the apartment.

Third option. If you have to divide an apartment in which the shares of the co-owners are not determined, then until the shares of each of the spouses are established, the division cannot be made.