Can we sell the house before the divorce is final?

You can sell early

Nothing in Oregon law makes you wait for the judgment before you put the house on the market. What changes the picture is service. Once the summons and petition are served, ORS 107.093 restrains both of you from transferring, encumbering or disposing of property the other has an interest in, unless the other spouse gives written consent or a court orders it.

A sale transfers the house, so after service I plan for that written consent before we list. If one of you won't give it, the other route is a court order, which is covered in do we need a court order to sell. I'm a broker, not an attorney. Your attorney should draft or review the consent.

The deed needs everyone

Whoever is on title signs the deed. In Oregon, a deed to spouses creates a tenancy by the entirety under ORS 93.180 unless the deed says otherwise, and your attorney can tell you what that means for your house. Pull a copy of your deed early. It answers questions before they turn into delays at the closing table. If one of you has since moved out, that doesn't change who is on title. Moving out is about where you sleep, and the deed is about who owns the house. I can pull a copy from the county before we list, so nobody learns something new about the title during escrow.

Money is decided separately

Selling first doesn't settle who gets what. If you can't agree, the court divides property as may be just and proper in all the circumstances under ORS 107.105, starting from a rebuttable presumption that you both contributed equally to property acquired during the marriage. The court also considers reasonable costs of sale and taxes, so keep every closing statement. You and your attorneys decide where the net proceeds wait until the split is final, and who decides how the proceeds are split goes further into that.

Taxes are worth a call too. IRS Publication 523 lets a seller exclude up to $250,000 of gain on a main home, or $500,000 for a married couple filing jointly, if the ownership and use tests are met. Your filing status in the year you close can affect which figure you're looking at. Your CPA should run those numbers with you, and the page on the $500,000 exclusion after divorce has more.