My wife and I have been married for 5 years. We are about to undergo a divorce, and I will be seeking legal counsel shortly for those proceedings. I'm just trying to wrap my head around my situation for now.

My main concern as we start to split assets is our house. I purchased it before we were married. However, we recently refinanced and it was required (I think?) that she be added to the title, due to WA being a community property state.

During the refi, the house was appraised at 590k. We owe about 350k, so there's about 240k in equity (120k each, breaking it down).

We don't have that kind of money in the bank for me to just buy her out (unless I give up my entire retirement savings and I'm not sure that I want to do that. It might be an option though).

So, what kinds of arrangements might be arranged so that I can keep the house? I assume I could always take out a HELOC or a 2nd loan (if I can stretch my paycheck that far after child support and alimony), but I'm curious if there are alternative arrangements for situations like mine.

I also found this link describing how assets may be split. It included the statement that:

Generally, property owned before marriage is separate property.

Since I bought the property and she has been a SAHM since prior to being added to the title (i.e. my income has always been paying for it, especially since the time she was added to the title), is there any chance that she doesn't have a claim to the house? I assumed that due to being a community property state that the lack of a pre-nup gave her claim regardless of acquisition date, but this article may indicate otherwise.

(She doesn't want the house, and a 1 bedroom apartment nearby would rent for about $200/mo less than the mortgage payment. I can afford to keep making the payments, it's just the cash-out value that I'm struggling with.)