I work matrimonial matters as a neutral — retained by both spouses, or by agreement of counsel — so that the marital residence gets sold on the market’s terms instead of becoming another thing to fight about.
Selling the marital home in a New York divorce: the Automatic Orders, buyouts, delayed sales, and what can derail a sale, with a flowchart.
Read the divorce guide →In an ordinary sale one client makes the decisions. In a divorce, two people who are actively in conflict have to agree on the list price, the broker, the repairs, which offer to take, and when to close — while each is convinced the other is trying to take advantage of them. Every one of those decisions becomes a negotiation, and the negotiation happens through counsel at counsel’s hourly rate.
What usually goes wrong is predictable. One spouse hires a friend who is an agent, and the other side distrusts every number that comes out of it. Or both sides get a valuation, the numbers are far apart, and nobody can tell whether the gap is real or strategic. Or the house sits, because the spouse living in it has no reason to make it easy to show.
I’m brought in to take those decisions out of the fight. I work for both of you against the market, not for one of you against the other. I have no stake in who wins, and both sides hear the same thing from me at the same time. An agent without this training can cause conflicts, or fail to head them off, and in a divorce every conflict is billed by the hour.
The goal isn’t to make either party happy. It’s to produce a number and a process that both parties, both attorneys, and if necessary the court can rely on.
I’m engaged by both spouses as a neutral, by agreement or by court order. Everyone knows from day one who I’m working for and how I’m paid.
Same analysis, same time, to both parties and both counsel, so the list price is set on evidence and not on who argues longer. If the matter needs a written Fair Market Valuation, or a value as of a past date, that is a separate paid service.
What it will sell for as-is, what it would sell for with specific work done, what that work costs, how long each path takes, and what the carrying cost of waiting actually is. Most settlement conversations get easier once those four numbers are on the table.
Professional photography, floor plans, and a marketing package that doesn’t change depending on which spouse I spoke to last. Showings scheduled through me, with reasonable notice protocols set at the start, so access stops being leverage.
Every offer, every counter, every inspection issue goes to both sides and both counsel at once. No side conversations. If an offer is bad, I say so to both of you in the same sentence.
I’ve been through it, and I keep my files knowing a judge may read them.
Designations listed are credentials earned. Not all are maintained through the granting organizations; the Part 36 fiduciary listing and the New York broker’s license are current.
Divorce real estate: unbiased neutrality
Ten things you can expect of your divorce real estate agent
Recorded before the 2024 industry rule changes. Written representation agreements are now standard; everything else here still applies.
What I do is act as a neutral third party engaged by both of you, or by both attorneys, with everyone’s informed written consent and a clear statement of who I represent under New York’s agency disclosure rules. It is not the right structure for every case. Where a case is too contested for it, I’ll say so, and I can work for one side with the other side’s knowledge instead.
Then the sale has an agent one of you chose and the other doesn’t trust, and every number that comes out of it gets argued. The alternative is a broker neither of you picked alone: engaged by both of you, reporting to both of you, with no stake in who wins. Have your attorney call me, or call me yourself.
Very common, and it needs to be handled in writing at the start rather than fought over later. Access protocols, notice periods, condition standards and consequences go into the listing agreement or into a so-ordered stipulation. I’ve worked plenty of files where the occupying spouse was, let’s say, unenthusiastic. It is a solvable problem when it’s addressed early.
No. A buyout or a refinance may serve you better, and I’ll give you the real numbers each path turns on — which is usually what’s missing from the conversation. Your attorney and your accountant make the decision; I make sure it’s made on accurate figures.
I usually advise against it. Simply put, here’s why.
A deferred sale keeps the two of you financially tied together after the divorce is over. That tie has consequences people rarely think through at the time. A mortgage still showing on both names can block or complicate the other party’s ability to buy or finance anything else — so the spouse who moves out may find they cannot move on, in the most literal sense. And the arrangement depends on continued cooperation from someone you have just finished litigating against. When that cooperation fails three or four years later, and one party will not sign, will not maintain, will not agree on a price or will not vacate, you are back in court over the same house with a new set of legal fees.
There are exceptions. They are rarer than people expect, and they are usually about a specific child’s specific circumstances rather than a general preference to keep things stable. If your situation is one of them I’ll say so. But the default advice from me is that a clean financial separation is worth more than it looks on the day, and the cost of an entangled one shows up years later when it is expensive to fix.
On a sale, by commission under the listing agreement, paid at closing. A written Fair Market Valuation, or consulting work, is a separate paid service. I’ll tell you what I charge and why, up front.
The question above comes up in many of the matrimonial matters I take. Sometimes a deferred sale is the right call and your attorney will have good reasons for it — this is the part that usually doesn’t get priced in when it is decided.
Attorneys: I’m happy to talk through a matter before anyone is retained. Parties: call me directly. Either way I’ll be straight with you about whether you need me.
If a call isn’t practical — and in a matrimonial matter it often isn’t — write it here. It reaches me directly.
Would you rather just talk? Call 929-400-7653.
