Q: Divorce and house buyout: future sale costs in Maryland

A: Hopefully an agreement will be very clear about the buyout (e.g., A will pay B $X or 1/2 of appraised value less mortgage or whatever it might be). Any questions about a specific agreement are best posed to the counsel who helped draft that agreement, and your specific wording may lead to a different answer, but it is not uncommon for people reaching an agreement on buyout to deduct the costs of sale that would otherwise be paid. The thought process goes something along these lines -- if we sold the house to a third party "C" for $200,000, we'd need to pay 5% in brokerage commissions, and would have $190,000 left to split amongst us which would be $95,000 each, so if either of us buys the other out we should pay $95,000 so the party who is not keeping the house would net the exact same as if they sold to a third party.

All such things are negotiable. If the agreement gives a specific dollar amount for a buyout then it would be less expected to subtract anything since the buyout figure would have already been negotiated.

While the above is not legal advice, I hope it is helpful. You may want to contact the counsel who helped draft the agreement and/or sit down with another attorney.

A: If you are represented by counsel, it is an ethical violation for another lawyer to communicate with you unless you retain counsel for a second opinion. We don't belong under your lawyers "skirts."

A: Your agreement should spell out any deductions. If the language does not provide for spitting the hypothetical costs of sale to a third party, then you should not assume that such a deduction is required; in fact, it could very well be the opposite. Take your marital property agreement to your divorce attorney, or find another attorney, to review the language and provide a more informed opinion. As far as what is "normal" in such scenarios, while it is common for the parties to negotiate for such a split, it is just that: part of the negotiation. It obviously benefits the spouse who wants to keep the house, and costs the spouse who agrees to be bought out. If the parties could not agree on splitting these costs, and ended up with no agreement, then the house could have been ordered to be sold as part of the divorce judgment, and in that scenario, they'd each pay 1/2 of the seller's closing costs out of their respective shares of the sales proceeds. But again, you came to an agreement, and it's in writing. If there's nothing in there about deductions for hypothetical sales costs, then I would not assume any.