Monday, February 23, 2015

Losing Non-Marital Status in Property

There are three ways to lose the non-martial property status.  Non-marital property becomes marital when one; co-mingles, causes marital improvements, or is active in causing appreciation.  When one of these scenarios occurs, the property will be classified as marital property.

 Co-mingling is when the non-marital property is mixed with marital assets so it becomes difficult to determine which property is in fact the non-marital property.  An example of co-mingling is when non-marital assets are placed in account with marital assets and the funds from the account are used to pay regular living expenses.  By combining the non-marital funds and marital funds into one account and then paying regular expenses, it becomes really hard to determine which funds were used to pay the expenses.

Marital improvement can be described as marital money (money that is obtained by either party during the course of the marriage) is used to improve a non-marital asset. The added value to the non-marital property from the marital funds will make the non-marital property be determined to be marital property.

Active appreciation is when the value of the property increases due to the action of either party during the course of the marriage. One example of active appreciation is when a building is added to real estate during the course of the marriage which leads to a higher value for the property. Another example of active appreciation is when a mutual fund is transferred to another fund during the course if the marriage which leads to a higher value.

It is important to avoid co-mingling, marital improvements, or active appreciation to ensure that your non-marital property stays classified as non-marital

Sunday, February 15, 2015

Non-marital property

Non-marital Property
Throughout the course of the marriage, property can be described one of two ways; marital property and non-marital property.  Property acquired through the course of the marriage, no matter which party obtains the property, is called marital property. Non-marital property can best be described as property that was obtained prior to the marriage by one party, property given as a gift to one person, prenuptial exclusions, personal injury proceeds, or an inheritance (gift) left to one party. 

The party claiming that property is non-marital property must show by a preponderance of the evidence in the divorce proceeding that the property is indeed non-marital property.  Evidence that can used to prove that the property is indeed non-marital is receipts, title documents, cancelled checks, or any other documentation that shows proof that the property falls into one of the scenarios mentioned above.  

Unless a party making a non-marital claim has proven that property is non-marital, the court will classify the property as marital property which will then be divided up between the two parties during the divorce.


Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Marital Property

Marital Property
Marital property is any assets or debts acquired during the course of the marriage which each party is determine to have an equal share of during the marriage.  If the parties divorce, and the final division  is done according to the law the marital property will be divided between the parties EQUITABLY.   Under the law, it does not matter how the property or debt is titled for the debt/ asset to be considered marital property, only that the property was obtained during the marriage. 
For example, one person’s credit card debt or 401K is considered marital property even if it is solely in their name as this property was obtained during the course of the marriage.  Some other examples of marital property include furniture, stocks, bank accounts, cars, real estate and other debts.
When parties enter into a marriage, the courts tend to view the marriage like they would a business partnership.  All debts or income obtained during the marriage belong to both parties as they are essentially working as one unit together. It does not matter which party earns money during the marriage or whose name the debt is in.  The only thing that matters is that the debt was incurred or property was obtained during the course of the marriage.