Wanting Out, But Nowhere To Go?

The other day one of my clients told me she wanted to file for divorce and leave the marital residence, but had nowhere to go. She had no family in Harrisburg or even in Dauphin County. She didn't want to move the kids out of their schools in order to move closer to family. Even with child support and spousal support, she couldn't afford housing large enough to comfortably fit her and her three children. She definitely could not afford the mortgage and expenses associated with the marital residence. She and her spouse were trying to sell the house, but there just weren't any interested buyers. She felt trapped in her marriage by the recession.

Some couples have found creative post-divorce housing solutions to allow the children to remain in a familiar environment. I suggested that she consider staying in the marital home and finding another single woman with children to share housing expenses. Www.coabode.com is a single mom housing matching site that enables moms with available housing to offer space to mom's who need housing and vice versus. Co-abode.com is a fabulous resource for single moms who have significant concerns about how to make ends meet and still provide a suitable home for their children. But the benefit to sharing housing with other single moms is more than just financial. According to Co-abode sharing housing with another single mom allows you to:

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afford a better house or apartment, within a safer school district
* halve the cost of rent and overhead expenses, freeing up much needed resources
* lighten the burden of daily chores such as cooking, grocery shopping, laundry, homework, carpooling and child supervisions so that you are less tired and stressed out and better able to provide for your kids and yourself
* divorced moms can hang on to the family home by bringing in a mom roommate to help cover expenses
* give those in abusive situations support and strength so they can escape knowing there is another mom there to pool resources with and get emotional support

Sharing housing with another mom may not be for everyone, but it certainly is a viable alternative to staying in a marriage that makes you miserable.


Audrey Buglione is a family law attorney and single mom who lives in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania with her three children. Her office is located in Dauphin County. She assists clients seeking divorce, child custody, child support, spousal support and alimony pendente lite in Dauphin, Cumberland, Lancaster, York, Perry, and Lebanon counties. Contact a lawyer for a no-obligation confidential consultation.