Below are the ways how assists are split in divorce.
- Enlisting the Inventory
As soon as you both decides to end the marriage, your divorce lawyer would first ask about division of your assets that you both will have to think about. Generally, when the divorce decision has been made either inside or outside of the court, a couple have to enlist their inventory of marital property which you both have acquired during your marriage period. That means this inventory does not include anything that you owned before marriage or inherited during the marriage. After that, a fair decision is being made to divide the assets between you both which may come as in best interest for both of you.
- Personal Talks for Division
Once the above step is done, your family lawyer tries to settle down the matter over stage of personal talks so you both don’t need to consult court which can make things a bit complicated. That means you have the complete list of assets with you and now you both can talk to each other to divide them as per your needs and wants. If you both can agree in a civilized manner without any fight so there is no need to approach court obviously.
Also, the personal talk division is much lenient than court agreement as you become bound once an official agreement for division is made. So why not keep some leniency when it can be there through some mature discussions and mutual agreements without consent of a court.
- Draft a Settlement Agreement
If you and your spouse agrees to personal talk session and mutually come to a conclusion of division then you will have to make a settlement agreement to present in the court. You can get it made with the help of your divorce lawyer so the judge can be convinced to follow your mutual agreements. Otherwise, you both will have to follow the laws followed in your state for assets division.
- Learn About Differences Between Separate and Community Property
This is something which tells you the legal way of categorizing your assets so a fair division can be made among you both. Make sure your divorce lawyer guides you in detail about this part of divorce,
Separate property is the one that you or your spouse own individually, or already owned before getting married or have owned after the legal notice of separation was taken. It also includes the assets that you or your spouse inherited during marriage or received as a marriage gift.
While Community Property is known as marital property means the one which was acquired, obtained or earned during marriage period which may include the income, joint account money, retirement earnings and any other physical property like a car, house, electronic appliances and etc. It also includes any debts made during the marriage period.
In some states, community property is equally divided between both spouses while in other states, court may award a percentage of total value of property to both spouses. It is also possible not to divide the community property and keep it with any of the spouse only in case if other spouse owns a large amount of separate property while another one depends solely on community property only. So, it depends on your family lawyer how he/she has proceeded the things further in court. However, separate property is not liable to any division in any case and will stay with the one who owns it from beginning.
- Every State Has Different Laws of Assets Division
Well, once your divorce case has been taken to court, you cannot back it off by taking any decision on your own. Remember that more drama will result in more complications in your divorce and ultimately may affect the decision of assets division. Also, if you insist the judge to give decision much in your favor then family lawyer Fairfax VA of your spouse may take advantage of this situation so just don’t fall for it being an emotional person. Court will follow the laws set in your state and not as per your wishes you would like to get it divided. So, it is better not to let emotional trauma take over your mental peace and let the court decide the fair agreement for both of you.
