Blog · Situations · 2026-07-31 · 2 min read

Divorce: title changes end exemptions, and both names still owe

Removing a spouse from title can drop the homestead exemption without anyone being told.

Divorce changes who is on the title, and a change of title can end exemptions and complicate who is responsible for the bill. Neither happens automatically in the way people expect.

Exemptions and occupancy

The general homestead exemption requires the property to be the owner's principal residence as at 1 January. When one spouse moves out, the position depends on who owns it and who lives there.

• One spouse remains, and is on the title. The exemption generally continues, though a title change may require re-application.
• The spouse who lives there is removed from the title. The owner no longer occupies and the occupier no longer owns. This is where exemptions are most often lost.
• Both move out and it is let or sold. The exemption ends.

Any deed change is worth following with a call to the assessor to confirm what is still applied.

The senior freeze is the expensive one

Income tested, annually renewed, and calculated on total household income. A divorce changes the household, and the change can move a claimant either into or out of eligibility.

Losing it resets the frozen base to the current assessed value permanently — you do not get the old base back by requalifying later. If a freeze is in play, take advice about it specifically before the title changes.

Liability does not follow the divorce decree

This surprises people. A decree can allocate responsibility for the tax between the parties, and that binds them to each other. It does not bind the county.

The tax attaches to the property. If it is not paid, the consequences fall on the property and on whoever is on the title, regardless of what the decree says. A party who was allocated the liability and does not pay leaves the other exposed, with a contract claim rather than a tax remedy.

Appealing during or after

Nothing about a divorce prevents an appeal, and the grounds are unchanged. Two practical points:

Somebody has to actually do it. The deadline is 30 days from publication of the township roll and it does not pause for anything. In the middle of a separation this is precisely the sort of thing both parties assume the other is handling.

Agree who files. Two appeals on one parcel is confusing for the office and for you.

The valuation question

A property may be valued during the proceedings for division of assets. That valuation is prepared for a different purpose, at a different date, on a different standard — and it can end up in front of an assessor if it is unhelpfully high.

Conversely, if it is genuinely a market appraisal at close to the assessment date and it is below the county's implied value, it is useful evidence you have already paid for.

The checklist

1. After any deed change, confirm which exemptions are still applied.
2. Re-apply for anything that dropped.
3. Take advice on a senior freeze before the title moves.
4. Agree who files any appeal, and diary the deadline.
5. Remember the county is not bound by the decree.