Divorce - Division of Property
Among the many issues to be addressed in any divorce process is the division of the couple's belongings or in technical words, the distribution of the marital property.
But what exactly is marital property and what does it has to do with my divorce? In general terms, marital property is all that was acquired by either spouse during the marriage, except for gifts and inheritances.
Also, any property acquired by one spouse before the marriage is considered non-marital and therefore is excluded from the division process.
This leads to the answer of the second part of your question: what does it have to do with your divorce? The answer is simple.
The definition of marital property will determine what exactly are your spouse and you going to receive after your divorce.
The process of distributing a couple's property is defined by what the divorce court determines is marriage property and what is not.
In other words, all that your spouse and you own today will have to be informed to the judge and whatever that falls into the definition of marital property will be taken in consideration by the divorce court when deciding how much is each one of you going to walk away with.
Identifying what is not marriage property, is one of the biggest challenges for any divorce attorney.
Once a divorce attorney can prove that certain property is non-marital -for any of the few reasons recognized by the law- that property is excluded from the distribution process and whoever owns it, keeps it.
In other words, you get to keep everything that you individually own, plus a part of the marital property.
The process of distributing property can become one of the bitterest issues in any divorce process, all because of what can and cannot be considered marital property.
Every divorcee wants to walk away from marriage in the best financial condition possible.
That is why prenuptial agreements have become so popular.
In a prenuptial agreement you list everything that you owned before getting married.
This guarantees you that you will be able to keep everything that is listed there in case of a divorce.
A prenuptial agreement is a simple document with an enormous financial impact.
If you are planning to get married and you own a significant amount of property you might want to consult with an attorney regarding the preparation of a prenuptial agreement.
But what exactly is marital property and what does it has to do with my divorce? In general terms, marital property is all that was acquired by either spouse during the marriage, except for gifts and inheritances.
Also, any property acquired by one spouse before the marriage is considered non-marital and therefore is excluded from the division process.
This leads to the answer of the second part of your question: what does it have to do with your divorce? The answer is simple.
The definition of marital property will determine what exactly are your spouse and you going to receive after your divorce.
The process of distributing a couple's property is defined by what the divorce court determines is marriage property and what is not.
In other words, all that your spouse and you own today will have to be informed to the judge and whatever that falls into the definition of marital property will be taken in consideration by the divorce court when deciding how much is each one of you going to walk away with.
Identifying what is not marriage property, is one of the biggest challenges for any divorce attorney.
Once a divorce attorney can prove that certain property is non-marital -for any of the few reasons recognized by the law- that property is excluded from the distribution process and whoever owns it, keeps it.
In other words, you get to keep everything that you individually own, plus a part of the marital property.
The process of distributing property can become one of the bitterest issues in any divorce process, all because of what can and cannot be considered marital property.
Every divorcee wants to walk away from marriage in the best financial condition possible.
That is why prenuptial agreements have become so popular.
In a prenuptial agreement you list everything that you owned before getting married.
This guarantees you that you will be able to keep everything that is listed there in case of a divorce.
A prenuptial agreement is a simple document with an enormous financial impact.
If you are planning to get married and you own a significant amount of property you might want to consult with an attorney regarding the preparation of a prenuptial agreement.
Source...