Selling a Miami House During Divorce: Homestead Signatures, the Save Our Homes Split, and Two Rents in One of America's Priciest Cities

Short answer: You can sell a Miami house during a divorce, but in Florida the marital homestead almost always needs both spouses’ signatures, even if only one name is on the deed. Before you sell, decide three things: whether a buyout makes more sense (it usually avoids documentary stamp tax), how you’ll split the Save Our Homes savings each of you can carry to a new home, and how many months of two housing payments you can afford while a listing sits.

This guide is written for one kind of Miami-Dade household in particular: a couple who bought a single-family home in Kendall, Westchester or Flagami years ago, has kept the homestead exemption the whole time, and now has one spouse renting an apartment in Doral or Brickell while the other stays with the kids. Condo owners can use most of it too.

For the broader picture of selling anywhere in South Florida, see our Miami and Orlando cash buyer guide and the Miami, FL city page.

Can one spouse sell a Miami homestead without the other?

No, not while you’re married and the house is your homestead. Article X, Section 4(c) of the Florida Constitution says the owner of homestead real estate may sell, mortgage or give it away only when “joined by the spouse if married.” That rule protects the family home, and it doesn’t care whose name is on the deed.

In practice, this is where many Miami divorce sales stall. One spouse bought the Westchester house before the wedding, kept it in their own name, and assumes they can list it. Then the title company asks for the other spouse’s signature on the deed, and the deal waits on a person who may not be answering texts. If that’s your situation, find out early whether your spouse will sign, or whether your attorney needs to ask the court for help.

Is the house even marital property if one of us owned it first?

Often it’s partly marital, and Florida has a formula for that. Under section 61.075, Florida Statutes, a judge sets aside each spouse’s nonmarital assets and then starts from the premise that marital assets are split equally, unless the factors in the statute justify something else.

Three parts of that statute matter most for a Miami house:

• Tenancy by the entirety is presumed marital. If the deed says “husband and wife” or otherwise created an entireties estate, the house is presumed marital even if one of you paid the down payment before the wedding. The spouse who says otherwise has the burden of proof.
• Paying down a premarital mortgage with marital money creates a marital share. If one spouse owned the Flagami house before the marriage and the mortgage was paid from paychecks during it, the principal paid plus a slice of the passive appreciation, figured with a “coverture fraction,” can be marital.
• Adding your spouse’s name for a homestead sale doesn’t change ownership by itself. The statute says a spouse joining a deed only to convey homestead to a third party doesn’t turn the property or the proceeds into marital property.

That’s why the first number to get isn’t a sale price. It’s your lawyer’s view of how much of the equity is actually marital.

What happens to the deed if the divorce ends before the house sells?

You’ll likely become co-owners with no automatic way out. Section 689.15 says spouses who held property as tenants by the entirety become tenants in common when the marriage is dissolved. Each of you then owns a share, and either one can generally ask a court to partition it, which often ends with the house being sold anyway, on someone else’s timeline.

The cleaner path is to have the judgment deal with the house directly. Under section 61.075(4), a judgment distributing assets works like a signed deed once a certified copy is recorded in the county’s official records, here through the Miami-Dade Clerk. Whether the judgment awards the house to one spouse or orders it sold, put the details in writing: who pays the mortgage until closing, who picks the buyer, and how the proceeds are split.

Can a judge let us sell before the final judgment?

Yes, in the right circumstances. Section 61.075(5) allows an interim partial distribution while the case is pending, but only on a sworn motion and for good cause, which the statute defines as extraordinary circumstances. The listed examples are specific: needing funds to avoid losing an asset to foreclosure, to avoid losing housing, to prevent a default on marital debt or a tax lien, to pay for a child’s needs, or to pay reasonable attorney’s fees.

If the mortgage on the Kendall house is falling behind because nobody can carry it alongside a Doral rent, that’s the kind of fact pattern the statute names. Your attorney decides whether to file. A couple who simply agrees to sell can usually do it by written agreement without that motion.

Two other timing rules help you plan. To file for divorce in Florida, one spouse must have lived in the state for six months before filing (s. 61.021), and a final judgment can’t be entered until at least 20 days after the petition is filed unless the court finds injustice would result (s. 61.19). An uncontested case can move quickly, so a buyer who can close on a fixed date sometimes matters more than a buyer who pays the most.

Who gets to stay in the house with the children?

The court can award one spouse exclusive use, and the kids come first in that analysis. Section 61.075(1)(h) tells the judge to consider whether it’s in a dependent child’s best interest to stay in the marital home, and whether it’s financially feasible to keep the house until the child is emancipated or exclusive possession otherwise ends.

“Financially feasible” is the phrase that matters in Miami. Census figures for 2020 to 2024 put the median monthly owner cost with a mortgage in the City of Miami at $2,863 and the median gross rent at $1,758 (U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts). One household paying both of those, plus Florida homeowners insurance, is a hard budget to sustain until a child turns 18. That’s often the honest reason a family sells.

Is a buyout cheaper than selling to an outsider?

On taxes, usually yes. Florida’s documentary stamp tax on deeds is 70 cents per $100 of consideration under s. 201.02, but subsection (7)(a) exempts a deed between spouses or former spouses under a dissolution action when the property is or was their marital home. A sale to an outside buyer pays the regular tax. Miami-Dade’s extra county surtax under s. 201.031 doesn’t apply when the deed involves only a single-family residence or condo unit.

The bigger buyout advantage is property tax. Section 193.155(3)(a)2 says a transfer between husband and wife, including one due to a dissolution of marriage, isn’t a “change of ownership.” So if one spouse keeps the house and stays entitled to the homestead exemption, the capped Save Our Homes assessment can stay in place instead of resetting to market value.

The catch is financing. The spouse keeping the house usually has to refinance to get the other off the loan and pay out their share, at today’s rates, on one income.

Can each of us take our Save Our Homes savings to a new home?

Usually yes, and this is the part most Miami couples don’t hear about until after closing. Under s. 193.155(8), the gap between your home’s just value and its capped assessed value is portable to a new Florida homestead, up to $500,000, if you establish the new one while you’ve had the exemption as of January 1 of any of the three prior years.

When jointly titled owners split up, paragraph (d) divides that benefit by the number of owners who received the exemption, unless the deed shows specific ownership shares. Spouses who want an uneven split can designate shares under paragraph (f), but only by filing the state form with the property appraiser while still married on the date the home is abandoned, and the designation is irrevocable. If one of you is buying a condo in Hialeah and the other is renting for a while, an uneven split might fit better, but you have to decide before the divorce is final.

The legislature amended this section again in 2026, with changes first applying to the 2027 tax roll, so confirm the current rules and forms with the Miami-Dade Property Appraiser before you file anything.

What is the Miami market telling sellers this fall?

That listings take patience. Over the three months ending September 2026, Redfin reported a median Miami sale price of $649,691, up 4.8% year over year, a median of 113 days on market (up from 106), a 94.6% sale-to-list ratio, and price drops on 26.9% of homes (Redfin Miami housing market).

Miami is also mostly a renters’ city. Census estimates show an owner-occupied housing rate of 30.8% for 2020 to 2024 and a median owner-occupied home value of $518,100 (Census QuickFacts). For a divorcing couple, that means the buyer pool for your specific house may be narrower than headlines suggest, especially for an older concrete-block home that needs a roof or windows before an insurer will write a policy.

Put those numbers against your own budget. If you list in late October and it takes the median time, you’re carrying the house into February, through insurance renewal and with one of you still paying rent.

Why does a long listing hurt more during a Miami divorce?

Because every month costs double, and the house rarely shows its best. A few Miami-specific frictions come up again and again:

• Hurricane season and insurance. The Atlantic season runs through November 30. A storm, a shuttered house, or an insurer non-renewal mid-listing can stall a sale that’s already tense.
• Older housing stock. Many Kendall and Westchester homes date from the 1960s to the 1980s. Buyers using financing often need a four-point or wind-mitigation report the house won’t pass without a roof, electrical, or plumbing update, and neither spouse wants to pay for it.
• Showings with kids and a custody schedule. Keeping a home staged while children move between two addresses is hard, and a spouse who doesn’t want to sell can quietly make it harder.
• Condo assessments. In older Brickell and Coral Way buildings, special assessments for repairs can land in the middle of a divorce and change what either of you can afford.

From our deals

When divorcing couples reach us, the friction is rarely the house. It’s that the two people disagree about one number, often the price or who pays the last few mortgage payments. The sales that closed smoothly were the ones where both spouses’ attorneys had already agreed in writing how the proceeds would be split and who would sign what, so the title company could hold the money and pay each side directly at closing. Where that agreement didn’t exist yet, the most useful thing we could do was give both sides the same written offer and wait for their lawyers.

When is a cash sale the wrong move in Miami?

More often than you’d think. Don’t rush into one when:

• One of you wants to keep the house and can refinance. A buyout avoids stamp tax and can keep the capped assessment. That usually beats any outside sale.
• The house is updated and shows well. At a 94.6% sale-to-list ratio, a clean, insurable home can still net more on the market, even after commissions and a few months of carrying costs.
• You haven’t agreed on the marital share. Selling first and fighting over the money later can work, but only if the agreement says the proceeds stay in escrow until the split is decided.
• Bankruptcy or a pending foreclosure is part of the picture. Talk to the right attorney before you sign a contract with anyone.

A cash offer is a comparison point. Get a written number and a realistic listing estimate, subtract every cost on both sides, and compare the net. For the full math, read cash offer vs. listing with an agent.

How would a HomeCashOffer cash sale fit the divorce file?

We buy Miami-Dade houses as-is, including homes with older roofs, open permits, or tenants, and we can work around a court calendar.

1. Either spouse, or both attorneys, can tell us the address, who’s on the deed, and whether there’s a signed agreement or court order about the sale.
2. We look at the house in person or through photos and a walkthrough, with whoever is living there.
3. We send a written offer that both sides can review. Asking for it doesn’t commit anyone.
4. A Florida title company handles the payoff, the documentary stamps, and paying each spouse according to the agreement or judgment.
5. We close on a date that fits the case, before the final hearing or after it.

Call (405) 622-8705 or request a cash offer online. If the house also needs major work, our Jacksonville as-is guide covers Florida inspections and insurance issues in more depth, and our Tampa liens and back taxes guide helps if there are unpaid taxes or judgments on title. Divorcing in another state? Compare how Arizona handles it in Phoenix.

HomeCashOffer, 3000 W Memorial Rd, Ste 123 Unit 308, Oklahoma City, OK 73120. (405) 622-8705. We’re a home buyer, not a law firm or a mediator.

Related reading: Sell my house fast in Miami and Orlando · Miami, FL city page · Florida cash home buyers · Inherited house in Orlando · What to expect from a cash offer · Florida family law forms (Florida Courts)