It isn’t easy dividing assets after a divorce. After all, you’re in the midst of an emotionally turbulent time. Therefore, you might have trouble thinking clearly about the best way to fairly divide up your assets.
Any time that emotions get involved in financial decisions, things can get messy. It’s helpful to have an outline of things that you should think about when coping with such situations. Here are 4 of the most common questions people have when dividing assets after a divorce. Hopefully they help you plan out what you need to do next.
1. Who Decides How to Divide Assets After a Divorce?
If you had a prenuptial agreement in place then you might be able to turn to that to get a sense of how to divide assets after a divorce.
Otherwise, the divorcing spouses have to figure out how to divide the assets. There are three common ways you might do that:
- If you’re in the lucky, but rare, circumstance of having an amicable divorce then you might be able to work it out alone together.
- You can work with a mediator to come to a conclusion together.
- Alternatively, you can have your separate attorneys work out the division of assets. The final decree will come from the judge.
2. What Is Equitable Distribution?
Different states have different ways of classifying marital assets. In some states, there’s community property and separate property. According to NOLO, those states are Alaska, Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin.
In all other states, there’s equitable distribution for dividing up assets after a divorce. This means that all assets and earnings from both spouses acquired during the course of the marriage are divided equitably among the two.
Note, however, that equitable means fair, not necessarily equal. You don’t necessarily get the same monetary value. Fairness relates to factors ranging from each spouse’s contributions to one another’s education or career to the spouses’ ages and health issues. Therefore, it’s often helpful to work with an attorney to figure out what equitable means in your specific situation.
3. Who Gets The House?
If you both share a house together then this is a big question that comes up when dividing assets after a divorce. One common rule of thumb is that when kids are involved, the parent with primary custody gets to stay in the house. However, there are many other configurations ranging from the kids staying in the house and each parent living there part-time to selling the house and splitting the profits.
4. Does It Matter If It’s a “Fault” or “No Fault” Divorce?
In some states, you can still declare that one of the two spouses is at fault for the divorce. Adultery, abandonment, and attempted murder by one spouse on the other are some of the grounds for assigning fault.
In those states that allow fault to be assigned, and in those divorces where that occurs, it can affect dividing up assets. The judge may award more to the party who was not at fault. Even when these issues don’t impact the division of assets, they can impact alimony and child support payments.
Other Common Questions
Here are a few of the other most common questions you might want to think about:
- Do I need to hire an attorney? Should we use the same attorney or two different ones?
- How do our debts impact the division of property?
- What is considered separate vs. community property in those states that don’t use equitable distribution?
- What should I do if I suspect my spouse has been hiding assets from me?
- Can we divide everything up ourselves except for the few things that we disagree on?
- What can I do if I’m not happy with the division of assets?
If you aren’t sure whether or not you can advocate for yourself when dividing up assets after a divorce, make sure to get a good attorney on your side to do it for you.
More Reading
Incidentally, if you want more great articles on dealing with a divorce, dinks finance has a number of good articles on couples finance.
And if you’re interested in learning now NOT to get divorced again, consider checking out the Gottman Institute. They’re a neat little think tank in Washington State which is pretty much world renowned for their research on couples.
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