Agreeing · Answer
What if my spouse won't agree to sell the house?
The short answer
Start by finding out why. Some spouses want to keep the house, and a buyout may answer that. Others need more information. Mediation is possible by agreement, and Linn and Benton rules let the court require arbitration when property and debt are the only issues left. After papers are served, a sale without consent needs a court order under ORS 107.093.
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Start with the reason
A no is rarely just a no. One spouse may want to keep the house and buy the other out, which is a real option covered in can I keep the house and buy out my spouse. Another may not trust the price, or may be worried about where they'll live next. Those are problems with answers, and I'm glad to give both of you the same pricing data so the conversation starts from facts.
What I won't do is pressure either of you. I work for the sale, and a sale one owner has been pushed into isn't a sale I want to run. Sometimes the most useful step is a short meeting, with both attorneys' blessing, where I walk you through the same numbers at once and answer the same questions for both of you.
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Help before court
Each county's local rules handle this a little differently. In Lane and Douglas, the court's required mediation is for custody and parenting time, not property, though you can agree to use an independent mediator for the house. Benton is the one county of the four whose rules offer financial mediation: under SLR 12.015, parties can agree to mediate property, debt and support. In Linn and Benton, SLR 13.005 lets the court require arbitration when property and debt are the only issues left.
Your attorney will know which of these fits. Ask early. A mediator who handles property can also look at a buyout, a later sale or another arrangement the two of you might not have thought of, and is a deferred sale an option covers one of them.
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When nobody agrees
After the summons and petition are served, ORS 107.093 means the house can't be transferred without the other spouse's written consent or a court order. So if your spouse still won't agree, the remaining route runs through the court. Court takes time. In the final judgment, ORS 107.105 has the court divide property as just and proper in all the circumstances, and that can settle what happens to the house. I'm not an attorney, and how to ask for any of this is your attorney's call. The situation page on a spouse who won't cooperate has more on keeping things moving in the meantime.
Confidential consult
Your situation, specifically.
Tell me where things stand. I’ll tell you what the sale could look like for your situation, and what to ask your attorney first.