Parents Divorce: How to keep the house?

2 years ago my parents split. They are only now starting to finalize the divorce. I don’t want sympathy since I am old enough to understand that it’s their choice and their choice alone. What I need to know is what I can do to help keep the house in the family.

Anyway a bit of background information first:

• We are a family of six. 2 parents and 4 “kids”. The eldest (me) is 21, my brother is 19, my sister 17 and my youngest brother 15.
• My dad is disabled (unable to work) and is nearing retirement. He is 59.
• My mother is 40 will probably be working for the rest of her life.
• In 1996 my parents bought a house in Brisbane, QLD. They took out the loan together and bought it as Joint Tenants (joint ownership, whatever).
• It is now worth 400k, and the outstanding loan is 112k.
• Since purchase Mom has been constantly working and hence paying the loan repayments off.
• Dad through an unfortunate series of events has been unable to work consistently and has instead contributed by running the house (cleaning, caring for the kids, and contributing what money he can get through the government)
• Myself and mom work at the same place at the same pay rate. This is ~42k gross.
• Dad is on a disability pension, $517 per fortnight, and also receives money to help with the kids that totals to ~550 per fortnight, as he is now seen as a single parent

So onto the divorce and my understanding of the current situation, and possible actions.

My Mom intends the house to go to us 4 kids. So she means to do whatever is required to result in the house being split evenly between us 4 kids. Because my Dad is disabled and nearing retirement, he prefers a settlement that will result in him receiving a cash amount, leading me to believe that he wishes for the house to be sold.

My understanding is that if the 400k house is sold, the 112k will be taken off the sale price and the proceeds split evenly between Dad and Mom. This equates to 288k split, so 144k each (.

Dad’s asking for ~105k-120k for his “share” of the house. He believes that this will be enough for him to start building his retirement fund on.

Mom can’t afford to borrow another 105-120k. As she is the only one with an income and it is currently being used to maintain the current loan, as well as help pay for the misc expenses (food, clothes, etc).

This is where I come in.

For whatever reason Mom won’t let me buy Dad out, however she will let me buy her out for a “discount”. She wants 20-50k. In the case of me buying Mom out, Dad was willing to keep the house rather than take a cash settlement.

My Dad’s original plan was for me to simply Replace Mom financially, and hence own the house 50/50 with Dad. Problems arose when Dad stated that he doesn’t want any debt.

I went on to suggest that if he wishes to be debt free, he must be willing to take only what his equity is as a % of the entire house. As his current equity is ~144k this results in 36% ownership of the house (144k is 36% of 400k). This would leave me with a 132k loan and 64% of the house (112k current loan + 20k to buy mom out).

This also requires us to go as Tenants in Common.

I’ve suggested that if Dad wishes to retain 50% ownership, that he will also have to take out a loan equal to mine.

I wish to know what else could be possible here that results in a fair split between me and my Dad.

(I know this sounds like a Raw deal for my mom, but she has her reasons for taking 20k and walking away from everything. please don’t think we’re trying to rip her off, I just don’t wish to explain her situation until I ask her)