Divorce can bring many challenges for couples, financial and otherwise. One of the financial issues that can come up in divorce is what to do with the home mortgage.

In some cases, both spouses would like to keep the home for themselves, but there are an increasing number of cases where neither spouse wants to be responsible for paying the mortgage, particularly in cases where the mortgage exceeds the property's value.

Sometimes a spouse who wants to keep the home will refinance and take on the mortgage payments by himself or herself. That can certainly work, but there are risks. Probably the biggest risk is that the lender will continue to consider both spouses personally responsible for the payments. If there are any late or missed payments, it will reflect poorly on both spouses. Lenders are not required by law to keep up on the current situation between spouses, even where there has been an agreement for one spouse to make all the mortgage payments.

Another potential risk is that the spouse who moves out may not be able to purchase another residence, since the existing mortgage will complicate the loan application.

That, of course, doesn't mean divorcing couples should never keep the home and have one of the parties refinance. But it should also be kept in mind that refinancing may be made difficult or impossible because of poor credit, low income or negative equity.

Any decision to keep the family home must be, obviously, financially feasible. In many cases, this will involve sacrifice on the part of both spouses. In some situations, selling the home is just the better approach, but each couple needs to do what works best for them, both personally and collectively. Sometimes it can be tricky sorting that out.

Source: Nasdaq.com, "How to divorce your mortgage," Marcie Geffner, January 26, 2012.