Unfortunately, a great portion of the marriages end in a legal separation, and it is said that more than 30 percent of the first marriages will end in divorce in the first couple of years. It is far better to end a relationship than to be unhappy, and if you are one of the people who are going through this, you know that this is a complex process where you have to be aware of all the things that could happen.
More often than not, there are a lot of obstacles you will have to overcome, and since most separations are not exactly peaceful, you need to know what you can and cannot win during the process. In this 2024 guide, we will tell you how does the division of assets works in divorce, and we will give you some tips on how to make sure you don’t end up shorthanded.
Keep on reading to learn more about your legal rights and what you can do to make sure you don’t get tricked and end up losing money.
Know that it all depends on where you are
Source: epsteinlawyers.com
The number one thing that you need to know about this process is that it all depends on where you are and where the legal separation will take place. Even though most states and countries have similar laws, they still defer depending on location, so you may want to check your area’s laws and regulations before you proceed.
In most places, you will be able to keep up the things that you brought into the marriage and those are counted as separate assets. Your partner will not be able to take anything that you bought on your own, or got before the marriage. When it comes to the rest of the things, they are most commonly divided equally between the two partners.
In other places, things may be put together, and both you and your soon-to-be ex-spouse will get the same percentage of the value of the assets. Sometimes, all of the things that you own and got during the marriage will be put together, and separate properties are not an option. Nevertheless, this once again depends on the state where you are and the laws in your area.
A legal advisor can help you with the division
Source: legalexpat.ch
Since there are a lot of variables depending on different things and on your overall property, the best thing you can do is get a legal advisor that will help you out during this time. Both of the partners are advised to seek a lawyer that will help them not only with the division of assets, but that will also represent their best interest, no matter if they choose to follow the court’s orders and let a third party decide what is going to happen to their properties, or if they choose to do this process on their own, and divide the property without involving anyone else.
The right attorney for you will be able to advise you on every step of the divorce, and according to matrimonialhome.com, you need to be smart and make the right decision even before the process starts so you don’t have to change things in the middle, or just before the separation is finalized.
Make sure your legal attorney understands what you want to get out of the separation, if you have a specific goal in mind, or if you want to just get the process over with as soon as possible without paying too much attention to the division process.
You don’t have to follow the court’s rules
Source: legalzoom.com
The last thing that you need to know is that you don’t always have to follow the court’s rules if you and your soon-to-be ex-partner have some other ideas. You can decide amongst yourselves if there is something that you want to divide equally, if there are things that you want to be for one partner or the other, or if you have any other ideas on your mind. The court will not prevent you from making this decision on your own, and in most cases, it is far easier for this to be done by the spouses than to be left on a stranger to decide what needs to go to whom.
There are many ways that you can approach this if you choose to do it together without the help of a third party, and the first thing you need to do is sit down and write a list of all the belongings that you have together. Note that this list should not contain items that solely belong to just one of the partners and items that will not be subjected to division.
Go over all of the things and see how you can divide them equally and who wants to get what. Even if you don’t agree on everything, it is far easier to ask for legal advice on one or two things than for all of your joined belongings.
You should also value all the things that you own, and this is going to make it easier for both of you to understand how much will one of the partners get and how much will the other one receives. Note that when it comes to items like housing, vehicles, or anything else that you are not sure about the current value, you can easily talk to an outside expert that will help you determine the price, and with that, make things easier for you to decide upon.
Once you’ve made all the decisions, write down who is going to be the owner of which items, including both the small and the large items. Finally, you will need to go in front of a judge that will approve your decision and make all of the division legal.
As you can see, there are different ways in which you can divide your assets and it is up to you and your soon-to-be ex-spouse to decide which path you are going to take. If you can make the decisions on your own, you should definitely do it. If not, the court of law will decide for you. Don’t forget that you will need a legal advisor no matter the path you choose to take so that you can make sure that you are not going to get tricked or regret some of the decisions once things cool down, and once you can think without a heated head.
