Some divorces involve custody complications. The spouses have minor children and must work out a plan for sharing their parental rights and responsibilities. In scenarios where spouses have very different income levels or one spouse sacrificed their professional ambitions for the family, spouses may need to negotiate arrangements for spousal support or alimony.
Not every divorce involves custody matters or the need for ongoing financial support. However, almost every divorce requires the division of marital property. Spouses have to negotiate terms for dividing their shared assets and financial obligations. If they cannot settle their disagreements on their own, then a judge may have to review their situation and apply the state’s equitable distribution statute to the marital estate.
What property do spouses typically need to divide when they divorce?
Spouses have to divide their marital property
Sometimes, couples recognize that they need to protect their resources before they marry or during the marriage. They may sign prenuptial or postnuptial agreements that designate certain assets as separate property. Their agreement may also provide clear guidelines for how they divide any shared property if they divorce.
Without a marital agreement, a large portion of the spouses’ resources may be subject to division when they divorce. Typically, spouses have to share anything that they acquire or earn during the marriage. Even in cases where one spouse doesn’t work outside of the home or earns far less than the other, both of them usually have an interest in any income earned during the marriage and assets acquired with that income.
Spouses can exclude property owned before the marriage or acquired after a legal separation from the pool of marital property. Gifts received from others and inherited assets can also remain separate property.
Occasionally, spouses may commingle their separate property by depositing it in a marital checking account or giving a spouse an ownership interest in their separate resources. Other times, using marital assets or income to maintain separate property could raise questions about whether it is truly separate.
People preparing for divorce often need help reviewing their financial records and an inventory of their assets to determine what is subject to division and what is separate, and that’s okay. Having an informed understanding of the equitable distribution process can help people prepare for a low-conflict divorce. Spouses who have help while learning about the law and reviewing marital resources may find it easier to divorce with minimal conflict.