It is quite common for couples seeking a divorce to separate their properties after the divorce is granted by the honorable court. However, deciding which property items to be allocated to which party is not an easy task. The court assumes its obligatory duty to separate the property based on value and ownership, between the two parties.
Primarily, the property is divided into two categories- community property and non-community property. It is quite important to understand the difference between these two categories before moving any further.
- Community Property: The possessions acquired during the marriage are usually known as community property. Not only the possessions but the debts as well. Because these property acquisitions were to benefit both the spouse for a happy married life, both parties equally share the value after separation as well. For example, if a couple purchases a house after getting married, and before they mutually decided to dissolve the marriage, they both have equal rights to the house.
- Non-Community Property: The property items and debts that individual parties own for their personal use and that too prior to the marriage or after the marriage is filed for dissolution in the court, are referred to as non-community property. For example, clothes personal loans, and any such expense which was made on the sole discretion of one party falls under this category.
Evidently, all the property items must be divided between the two parties after separation. Well, notably, this could either be consensual or by court-ordered division, depending on the case.
How does the court decide the property division?
There can be instances in mutual consensus when one of the parties may try to hide or sell a portion of the property to protect it from going to the other spouse. However, this is deemed unethical and illegal by the law. Therefore, as the experts from Ephraimlaw.com suggest court prefers interfering between the parties to resolve property disputes and equally distribute it among both parties. But the question still remains how does the court decide the separation.
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Court Considers Liabilities
Primarily the court considers the liabilities on both parties. For example, if the husband has to pay alimony, are there any dependant kids or companions, and the living cost in general. Taking these factors into consideration, the court may decide what property items to be allocated to which party.
The need for the party
There are cases when one of the spouses has a more imminent need for one of the property items than the other. Generally, this happens in the case of the ownership of the house. It is usually offered to the party that needs it the most, or otherwise can be mutually agreed upon both parties for rightful possession after divorce.
Valuation of the property
Most importantly, when the court intervenes in the property matters, they do not offer the immovable property items randomly, but rather divide the value of the property among both the parties. For example, although the house may be offered to one party for possession, the other party may still receive fair compensation for their share in the value of the house. This is done with almost every immovable property item.
It is noteworthy that filing a divorce is not as easy as it may sound, but with appropriate consultation, it may easily be done. Particularly, the part where the property is to be divided between the spouses.
