A divorce can be an emotional and stressful process if only one partner wants a divorce while the other does not.
Several factors, including child custody, child support, property division, asset distribution, and many more concerning things, may arise for which a couple may not be ready.
In such cases, it is an excellent option to get help from a Sandy divorce attorney who can take care of the legal procedure and ensure that divorce is delivered smoothly.
During a divorce, one of the most confusing steps is equally splitting properties and being unclear on how to do it reasonably.
Also Read: Amicable or Messy Divorce: The Need for a Lawyer is Inevitable
A partner might ask for extra assets in some cases while the other partner may disagree, leading to disputes and other problems. However, with patience and cooperation, it can be achieved easily.
Different properties considered in a divorce case are as follows:
1. Marital property
In the event of a marriage which has lasted for more than 25 years and suddenly if the couple wants a divorce.
The court can consider the properties owned by the couple as marital property, which may include the retirement benefits, income earned, and purchase of a personal property when the couple were still married.
Unlike other properties, marital properties are hard to split.
2. Dividing property
When a couple struggles to split properties between the two, the court may intervene and do it for them.
In such cases, the property division may not result in a 50/50 ratio at all times. Therefore, a couple is expected to do it with their fair distribution of assets.
3. Separate property
Any property owned or purchased by a partner before their marriage, and if the marriage did not last for more than five years, then those assets will be returned to the respective partner.
There would be no asset distribution or property splitting since a partner before marriage owned it, even if it were gifted land by someone not intended to be shared by anyone else.
Property division plays a significant part when a couple of files for a divorce, especially when it is a marital property that both partners own.
The procedure will be smooth if a couple mutually agrees on a property and is ready to split it in a specific ratio.
However, an attorney’s help is required since few partners may try to make an unfair asset distribution in a divorce.
Conclusion
Issues Surrounding Property Division during a Divorce
If you’re in a divorce process now or about to get into one, there are several constants and variables that you must be aware of when it comes to property division. Here are some of them:
No automatic 50-50 settlement
When a marriage ends, equally splitting assets between the divorcing parties are not automatic.
The courts have the discretion on how property is going to be divided between the separating parties.
Issues like financial and domestic contributions are considered by the court as it decides what is just and equitable.
Property owned prior to the marriage
Although the Family Law Act is not explicit when it comes to the issue of assets that are brought into a marriage, it suggests that at the beginning of the union, greater weight is given to property owned individually.
However, the importance of such property brought into a marriage at the beginning diminishes the longer a couple stays in their marital union.
Business property
If one of the parties is involved in a business, the other party must still be given some share of the business’s profits.
Again, the court will decide how the business property is going to be divided based on the facts of the case.