Does It Matter Whose Name Is on the Deed of the Marital Home?
It does not matter whose name is on the house’s deed because the marital home is a marital asset. Even if one person contributes more financially to the home, the courts value all forms of contribution. If the home was bought before the marriage, then there are more factors that will need to be assessed.
Do You Include the “Legal Description” of the House Or Land in the Final Decree of Divorce?
It depends on which county the divorce is going through. Some counties require an addendum to the marriage settlement agreement (MSA) that includes the description of any houses or land in the final decree of divorce.
Can One Spouse Be Reimbursed for Improvements to the Other Spouse's Separate Property?
If a property is owned separately by party number one, and they used communal funds to pay for the improvements–then yes, party number two is entitled to reimbursem*nt of those funds. This use of communal funds can sometimes make the property a marital asset. Similarly, if party number one uses their own funds to improve their own property, then party number two may be entitled to collect on the increased value of the property.[5]
How Does Divorce Affect Debt?
Marital debts are community property, so like marital assets they are split 50/50 unless there are unique circ*mstances such as if a party has debt linked to their separately owned property. This means that even if one person was racking up credit card debt and the other party had no idea, it’s still a marital debt. That being said, a spouse can contest that a debt was incurred not in the interest of the family.
Are Creditors Bound by Debt Division?
No, creditors do not always recognize debt division. If debt was split up in a divorce and the other party doesn’t pay their loan or defaults on it, the creditors can come after their ex-spouse for it. To avoid this, a lot of people try to pay off as much marital debt with marital assets before or during the divorce.
Does Debt Usually Stay with the Property?
Debt does stay with the property, but that does not mean the person keeping that property will be paying all the debt. For example, say it’s decided that one party will keep a car that has a car loan on it. The person keeping the car will also have to take over the car loan and refinance that loan to put it in just their name, but a chunk of that loan may be paid off as part of the divorce. Either way, the positive value of the car and the negative value of the loan will be considered in the 50/50 split.
My Spouse Is Keeping the Car. Can I Get My Name Off the Debt?
Usually, the best and only way to avoid being on the hook for your ex-spouse’s debt is for the person keeping the car debt to refinance the auto loan in their name alone. With this, including the vehicle identification number in the final divorce decree can be useful to protect against future post-divorce property disputes–but it isn’t really that important, so it’s not always included.
Can Retirement Benefits Be Divided?
In a divorce, retirement accounts are considered marital property and will be split 50/50 like all other forms of marital property, but calculating their exact value is tricky. Similar to the home, even if only one party had an income and put some of it away for retirement, the court will split it equally because the other party put work into the marriage in other ways.
Can We Each Keep Our Own Retirement?
As listed in the three options for splitting up property, the first two options in dividing property are to see if both parties can agree on an equitable distribution. If both parties agree to keep their own retirement accounts, then that’s how it will be. When one spouse’s retirement is much larger than the other’s though, there may need to be a trade of some sort. The key here is for the division to be equitable, so if the retirement account is worth $15k and the car is also worth $15k, then the spouse with the retirement account could give up their claim to the car.
