Last updated October 29, 2026

What Happens If One Spouse Refuses to Sell the House in a Florida Divorce?

Short answer: The decision moves to a judge. While the divorce is open, the family court can distribute the marital home, which can include ordering it sold. After the divorce, a former spouse who still co-owns the house can ask a court to partition it under chapter 64 of the Florida Statutes. Your family-law attorney decides which route fits your case.

Real-estate side only. This is general information, not legal or tax advice, and no attorney-client relationship is created by reading it. PBP Real Estate, LLC is a licensed Florida real estate brokerage (License CQ1064615), not a law firm. Your family-law attorney decides the legal questions in your case, a CPA decides the tax questions, and a lender decides any refinance.

What happens if one spouse doesn't want to sell a house in a Florida divorce?

The family court decides. In a Florida divorce, the court distributes the marital assets and debts, and the marital home is usually the largest of them. When the spouses cannot agree, the court can award the house to one spouse, set terms for a buyout, or order the house sold. Once a judgment distributing the house is recorded in the county where the house sits, it has the effect of a recorded deed or release (section 61.075(4)).

What to ask the court for, and when, is a question for your family-law attorney. We do not advise on strategy in the case, and we do not take sides between owners.

What can I do if my spouse is refusing to sell the house in Florida?

Your options run through your attorney and, if needed, the court. The paths owners usually discuss with counsel are these:

• Agree on the number first. Disputes over selling are often disputes over price. A written opinion of value drawn from closed sales, given to both owners and both attorneys at the same time, takes one argument off the table.
• A buyout. One spouse keeps the house and pays the other for their share, usually through a refinance. See how a spouse buyout works.
• A court order. In the divorce case, the court can order the sale and set its terms.
• Partition after the divorce. If the divorce ended without deciding the house, a co-owner can file a partition action.

Which path fits, and what it costs in time and fees, is your attorney's call. We supply the real-estate facts any of these paths needs.

How does a partition sale work in Florida after a divorce?

A court divides the property, or sells it if it cannot be divided fairly. Section 689.15 says spouses who own a home as tenants by the entirety become tenants in common when the marriage is dissolved. From then on, chapter 64 of the Florida Statutes applies to co-owners who cannot agree:

A house or a condo unit usually cannot be divided physically, which is why sections 64.061(4) and 64.071 provide for a sale. Whether partition is available to you, and how long it takes in your county, are questions for your attorney.

What happens in a divorce if the house doesn't sell?

The agreement or the order usually says, and if it does not, the owners go back to their attorneys. A house listed during a divorce that draws no offers is almost always priced above what buyers have recently paid for similar homes. Good settlement terms answer the question in advance: how the list price is set, when it is reduced, and who decides if the owners disagree.

Waiting also costs money. Someone keeps paying the mortgage, taxes, insurance and association dues. Under section 61.077, a party is not entitled to credits or setoffs at the sale of the marital home unless the settlement agreement or final judgment specifically provides for them.

Without an agreement, the court weighs listed factors, such as who has exclusive use of the home and the value of that use, before deciding credits. See who stays in the house, and who pays.

What does a court-ordered home sale need from a real estate broker in Florida?

A listing that follows the order, and a clean record of what the market offered. When a judge has ordered a sale, the order sets the terms, and we follow it. In practice that means:

1. The listing is signed by the people the order names, which may be both owners, one owner, or a person the court appoints.
2. The price comes from closed sales. Gia Freer prepares a written opinion of value by hand, houses compared with houses and condos with condos, and anyone the order allows can read the sales behind it.
3. Every offer is presented in a timely manner, as section 475.278(2) requires of a transaction broker, and offers are answered the way the order or the owners' written agreement says.
4. The title company receives the order early, so it can confirm who signs at closing.

Your reason for selling stays out of the marketing. Buyers see a house, a price and a closing date.

Who handles a contested divorce sale at PBP Real Estate?

Gia Freer, Broker of Record (Florida license BK689801), handles every divorce file personally. Gia and Grant Freer have closed 767 transactions and $203,762,527 since 2000, 671 of them since 2013 (Beaches MLS, agent production report, as of October 19, 2026). We work with both owners as a transaction broker, so we do not represent one owner against the other. Our office works in English and Spanish across Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Martin and St. Lucie.

Related

• Selling a house during a divorce in Florida: the hub
• Do both spouses have to sign to sell a house in Florida?
• How a spouse buyout of the house works
• Who stays in the house during a Florida divorce
• A neutral real estate agent for both spouses
• Capital gains tax on the marital home in a Florida divorce

Published by Gia Freer, Broker of Record, PBP Real Estate, LLC · Florida broker license BK689801 · brokerage license CQ1064615. Last updated October 29, 2026.