If you’re going through a divorce, you’ll want to do everything you can to protect yourself financially. Doing so means completely understanding marital property division, and what is considered community or separate property.
DIVIDING MARITAL PROPERTY
Keep in mind that you are allowed to divide your marital property any way you’d like to. The only reason your state laws might play a role is if you and your spouse cannot agree to how the property will be divided and you need to go to court.
SEPARATE AND COMMUNITY PROPERTY
Separate Property: property that each spouse brings into the marriage. That spouse retains that after the marriage. This also includes property inhisited by a spouse during the time of the marriage.
Community Property: property acquired and income earned during the marriage. In the comment property states of Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin, community property is usually divided 50-50.
Remaining states use a property division principle called equitable distribution. With equitable distribution property is divided fairly (50-50). Occasionally the highis wage earner is given 60 percent to 75 percent of the property.
PROTECTING YOURSELF DURING MARITAL PROPERTY DIVISION
Regardless of how your marital property is divided, you need to protect yourself. Your ex might not make the payments for various reasons – lack of money, spite, illness. In that case you might need to return to court or various other means of collecting the lost payment. Because of that, it’s often advised that you protect yourself by getting cash in hand once the divorce agreement is reached. If it’s decided that your ex will pay you out following the sale of an asset, wait until the sale is final, and then ensure you get the money to finalize your divorce.
Source: GetOutofDebt.org, Making a Clean Financial Break at Divorce, May 30, 2010
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