When dealing with matters of divorce, property division often stands out as one of the biggest matters to deal with.
This is especially true in situations where children are not involved, as the couple then does not have to worry about matters like child support, visitation or custody.
What are marital assets?
Forbes mentions that in most divorce cases, the shared or marital assets end up divided between both people in the couple.
Marital assets typically include things with both of the couple’s names on it or things that they both used significantly. Examples can include shared or joint bank accounts and large properties such as houses.
Even if one person paid for the home on their own, if both people have their name on the deed, then it will end up treated like a marital asset in the eyes of the law.
Is anything safe from division?
There are some properties exempt from division during divorce, however. Typically, these are the properties that one person owned before the marriage, such as furniture, clothing, cars or even a pet that they brought into the relationship.
Other examples include inheritance or gifts given directly to one specific individual, even if it happened during the course of the marriage itself.
However, there are some cases in which a personal piece of property may become a marital piece of property. For example, if a person transfers money from an inheritance into a joint bank account, this money then becomes a marital asset. This is important to keep in mind when making financial decisions in a marriage.