Jointly Owned Property

The property that couples accumulate during marriage is called, straightforwardly enough, marital property. Depending on which state you live in, however, marital property will take different forms. Community Property: Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin. (Alaska also gives married couples the option of identifying property held in trust as community property.)

In community property states, all earnings during marriage and all property acquired with those earnings are considered community property owned jointly by the couple. Even if one spouse earned a salary during the marriage while the other one kept house, the salaried spouse's earnings are community property. Separate property in these states-that is, not "community"-consists for the most part of money and property that the individual spouses owned before marriage, as well as gifts and inheritances that either spouse receives during marriage.

At divorce, community property is divided equally (in half) between the spouses. A spouse who contributed separate money to an item bought with community funds-for instance, a wife who contributed her $5,000 inheritance toward a $20,000 down payment for the family home-may be entitled to reimbursement for that contribution.

Conversely, a spouse who added community property money to a separate property item belonging to the other may be reimbursed. In most community property states, a court has the discretion to divide the property equitably (fairly), if dividing the property in half would result in unfairness to one party. Additionally, in some community property states, a spouse whom the court considers at fault in ending the marriage may be awarded less than 50% of the community property. (These exceptions do not apply in California.)

Equitable Distribution of Property: All Other States. In the District of Columbia and the 41 states that follow equitable distribution principles, assets and earnings accumulated during marriage are divided equitably (fairly) at divorce. In theory, equitable means equal, or nearly so. In practice, however, equitable often means that as much as O of the property goes to the higher wage earner and as little as N goes to the lower (or non-) wage earner-unless the court believes it is fairer to award one or the other spouse more. In some equitable distribution states, if a spouse obtains a fault divorce, the "guilty" spouse may receive less than a full share of the marital property upon divorce.

Find more information on divorce laws at Free Divorce Information.