After a divorce, how would you like it if you had to pay half of the mortgage on the marital home into which your ex has moved his unemployed new girlfriend? It rankles one divorcée each time she delivers her children for visitation with their father.

I wouldn't like it — it's unfair and unacceptable. This is among the horror stories which have resulted from the inability to sell the marital home due to the decline in value. Nationwide, there has been an almost 27 percent fall in housing sales in 2007. Certain markets have been harder hit and in 2008, prices haven't been reduced significantly in those area which enjoyed sharp increases in value.

Unable to sell at a fair price, divorcing couples are forced to stay attached. One woman took her home off the market after a $40,000 reduction produced no sale. She will get a second job to make ends meet.

Often husbands cannot afford separate living quarters if they are contributing to the marital home expenses. In another case, a divorcing husband and wife must continue to live together because they cannot move before the sale of their home. In divorce settlement agreements calling for a 50/50 split of the equity in the property, split couples gulp as they watch the equity shrink.

Without the sale of the home, divorcing couples cannot move on. Economists do not promise an upturn in the price of real estate. It is a market favoring buyers, and buyers are unwilling top pay asking prices. But if sellers paid top dollar when they bought the property, they can't take significant losses, especially going through a divorce.

The Federal Reserve has been lowering interest rates, and it may be necessary for the spouse remaining in the property to refinance at great costs. The immediate future is bleak but we hope in the near term there will be a correction in housing prices, compatible with the economy and consumer confidence.

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