Property and Debt

FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) about property and debt issues. If you are getting a divorce and have property and/or debt to divide, this area will help you better understand what your property division rights are.

• What are the financial effects of the separation date?
• What Determines the date of separation?
• What is a property settlement?
• Can the court divide the property?
• What is property?
• What do you mean, "no value"?
• What are some other types of property?
• What are some examples of personal property?
• So personal property is any inanimate object I might own, except for buildings and land?
• Are real property and personal property the only classifications of property?
• What should we do with all of our joint accounts?
• What about joint bank accounts?
• What about joint credit cards?
• What about equity credit lines?
• What about security margin accounts?
• What about the safe deposit box?
• What about joint investments or other holdings?
• What about real estate property?
• What happens to the marital debt, besides getting divided?
• What will happen to my credit rating or ability to get a loan?
• How do I prevent getting bad credit?
• What if my spouse is attempting to hide property?
• What defines hiding property?
• What is "marital property"?
• I’ve heard of "community property." Is that something other than "marital property"?
• If I don’t live in a community property state, how will the marital property be divided?
• What does "equitable" mean? Doesn’t it mean, "equal"?
• What is "separate property"?
• What are some examples of separate property?
• So if I received an inheritance from my maiden aunt, I don’t have to share it with my ex-wife?
• If I received the inheritance before I got married, then it’s clearly mine, right?
• How can that be? Isn’t it still separate?
• What if I put the inheritance into our joint checking account, just for a couple days, while I opened the separate bank account?
• How does moving money around change property from separate to marital?
• Is that like "commingling"? What is "commingling"?
• Is there any way that marital property can become separate property?
• That sounds like something from science fiction. What is "reverse transmutation"?
• What if I gave my wife a gift that I purchased with separate funds, and she did not share it with me?
• What’s an "unconditional gift"?
• What about my pension? Is that marital property?
• Why is my pension marital property, when I earned it solely through my work, and I haven’t gotten it yet!
• Is there an exception to the "pension as marital property" question?
• My spouse says that her ERISA benefits have an "anti-alienation provision," what does this mean?
• How are pension divided for divorce?
• What is the "Deferred Distribution" or "Reserve Jurisdiction" approach?
• How are defined benefit plans valued?
• What is a life expectancy appraisal?
• What is a mortality table appraisal?
• How are defined contribution plans are valued?
• How does a QDRO work in a pension situation?
• Are QDROs complicated to construct and difficult to have approved?
• So if a piece of property is my separate property, can my spouse not have a right to it?
• If property isn’t divided equally, how is it divided?
• Well, how do you know how your state treats marital and separate property?
• Why are some states community property states, while others are equitable distribution states?
• What if I live in a community property state, and have purchased something with my own money? Is it community property?
• What if you have a business that you owned before you got married?
• What if my spouse received a large personal injury award during our marriage? Would that be community property?
• What is "quasi-community property"?
• Is there a benefit to living in a community property state?
• Is there a downside to living in a community property state?
• Do other states think of marriage as a joint undertaking?
• What are some of those factors taken into consideration in an equitable distribution state?
• How does nonmarital property enter into this distribution?
• What about the issue of who earned the property?
• Why should my income have anything to do with how my property is divided?
• Does my spouse get credit for staying home during our marriage?
• How does the duration of the marriage pertain to the division of property?
• Is this the same for the age of the husband and the wife?
• How do judges consider age and health?
• What if my spouse spent all the money on gambling or liquor? Should that taken into consideration?
• My spouse wasted a lot of money on a business venture; it never was successful. Is this considered waste and dissipation?
• Do certain states still consider martial fault when it comes to property division?
• My wife and I have a premarital agreement. Do we have to go through all this property division stuff?
• Should the court take tax consequences into account when dividing the property?
• What about dividing personal property?
• What if we can’t agree on the value of the personal property?
• How is personal property valued?
• Is it all right that my wife gets the house, since she will have primary custody of the children?
• What if I want the house, even though my spouse will be awarded custody of the child(ren)?
• I can’t afford to pay for the upkeep of such a big house. Can we just sell it?
• It seems awfully harsh to sell the house. Is it always all or nothing?
• What are the typical dates or events that would define this?
• What if my wife wants the house and so do I?
• My wife will be getting the house, but she wants me to pay the mortgage. Is this equitable?
• What if my wife couldn’t keep up the payments, and now the bank is after me?
• My spouse and I owned a business together? What happens now?
• What if we kept the family business and continued to work together?
• How can we figure out the value of the family business?
• Is there one single best method to valuing a business, professional practice or association?
• Which methods to valuing a professional practice would be considered most appropriate?
• What components should be considered when valuing a professional practice?
• What is a closely held corporation?
• What factors should be considered when valuing a closely held corporation?
• Which methods to valuing a closely held corporation would be considered most appropriate?
• What is liquidation value and when is it pushed upon the court?
• What is book value and when is it thrust upon the court?
• What is a minority stockholder interest and how is it valued?
• What is a separately owned close corporation?
• Normally, what position do courts take on valuing appreciation in a separately owned close corporation?
• How can the value of goodwill be determined?
• But it’s just a small side business, selling rubber stamps over the Internet.
• I’m beginning to think that my spouse might not be straight with me on the value of the business?
• My spouse’s business has a lot of debt. Am I responsible for this debt?
• What if I do not like the Judges decision?