Moving Out and Your Date of Separation in North Carolina

If you are thinking about moving out, talk to a North Carolina family-law attorney first. Moving out can have effects that are hard to undo. This piece covers only one of them, the one that touches the value of the house.

Where the house comes in

In North Carolina a marital home is valued as of the date of separation (G.S. 50-21(b)). Who moved out and when can become part of the story of when you separated. That date then becomes the day the house is valued, so it is worth knowing before you act. If the separation date is disputed, Mecklenburg’s initial pretrial conference is where it gets settled or set for a hearing.

What an appraiser needs from that date

If the value has to be looked at as of the separation date, photographs of the house from around that time, listing records and invoices for repairs help show what it looked like then. Keep them.

What this piece does not do

It does not give legal advice. Questions about parenting time, support or who stays in the home belong with your attorney. If safety is a concern, put it first and ask for help before anything else.

Once you have the date and need the house valued as of that day, call (980) 580-7007 and we will talk about how a look-back value works. See also our divorce appraisal page.