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What Happens With Our Property During Divorces
During our marriages we all accumulate a lot of stuff from houses to souvenirs and items which have sentimental value, during a divorce everything needs to be accounted for. This also includes any possessions or properties that you or former spouse has brought into the marriage.
There are many things to consider before you finalize your inventory, we’ll go through how the property and assets will be divided up by you and the divorce lawyers in Atlanta during a divorce and if that fails how a judge determines property and asset allocation.
Determining Assets for your divorce proceeding.
Your asset list includes everything that belongs to you and your spouse, everything that was purchased during the marriage and everything that was brought into the marriage. This includes all assets you both have. In the list of separate assets you will also be advised by your divorce attorney Atlanta to mark which items are separate properties of you and your spouse.
After working out your assets you’ll need to determine the debts you and your spouse owe to any person or businesses. As with the assets you’ll also need to make a note beside each item which debts are your spouses and which debts were accumulated by yourself. If you’re not sure which assets and debts belonging to you or your spouse, you can ask your divorce attorney to work with you in figuring out whether the items are joint or separate.
Once the divorce takes place all assets and properties fall under 2 categories, marital properties and separate properties. In some states all properties are considered communal property during a marriage however in Atlanta Georgia doesn’t wall into this category and does allow for separation of assets and debts. In Atlanta Georgia you get to keep the properties that are yours and any joint properties will be divided. The determination of which properties are communal and which properties are separate can lead to heated arguments and are often the basis for contested divorces.
There are some distinctions between separate property and marital property. Anything that’s earned during the marriage is considered marital property, if you buy a car that’s paid through your joint account or from the income you earned through a job that would be considered marital property, if a divorce occurs. The exceptions to the rule occur when you inherit a certain money or property this is not considered marital property, but depending on how you handle the inheritance it can be turned into marital assets.
- If you place the inherited property under both of your names
- If you place the inherited property into joint accounts
- If you renovate inherited property, your spouse will be entitled to any appreciation as a result of the renovation; however your spouses entitlement will only be for the appreciation of the property or asset that was inherited.
This gives you an overview of how assets are divided during a divorce, there are some other distinctions to separate assets such as anything you receive as presents, inheritance, anything decided on in writing between you and your spouse, some personal injury claims are to be considered separate properties. To be sure which assets fall under communal property division and separate asset division, it’s best to speak with your divorce attorney go through the items.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/divorce.htm/
http://ssa-custhelp.ssa.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/299/~/qualifying-for-divorced-spouse-benefits