Whether you feel ready to get divorced, or your spouse has just surprised you with divorce papers, money is likely one of the things on your mind. Your household income and available resources may be about to change dramatically. It’s natural to worry if you’ll still be able to afford your current lifestyle, especially if you aren’t currently earning an income.
Except for child custody and parenting time, asset division is perhaps the most important part of any Twin Cities divorce. It can also be complicated and confusing if, like most people, you aren’t familiar with how it works. Let’s break it down.
Equitable, not necessarily equal
Like most states, Minnesota’s divorce laws use the equitable division model. This means two things: first, you and your spouse won’t automatically have to split your assets 50/50. The law requires only that the division be “equitable,” meaning fair. You or your ex could get more of the property, maybe in exchange for something else, such as spousal maintenance (alimony) or getting to keep the house.
Secondly, everything you own won’t necessarily have to be shared with your ex. When it comes to divorce, state law sorts property into two categories: marital property and non-marital property. In general, marital property is anything you and your spouse obtained during your marriage. But there are exceptions. Assets you owned prior to the marriage and kept separate from marital assets could be considered non-marital property. Another exception is gifts given specifically and explicitly to one spouse. All non-marital assets belong to each spouse separately and are theirs to keep.
Is it mine, or ours?
However, what marital property and what’s non-marital isn’t always clear. Things you owned before your marriage can become “co-mingled” with your spouse’s property and become a marital asset. Bank accounts are a common example. If you put the money you had in the bank into a shared account with your spouse, that money is no longer non-marital, even if you obtained it before getting married.
Cash and bank accounts aren’t the only things subject to property division. Other valuable assets commonly subject to division include:
- The family house
- Commercial property, vacation homes, and other real estate
- Retirement accounts, such as Roth IRAs and 401(k)s
- Ownership stake in a business
- Automobiles, artwork, jewelry, furniture, and other physical items, which the law refers to as “chattel.”
For many couples, agreeing on whether valuables are marital property or not can be one of the biggest sticking points in reaching a property division settlement. It isn’t always clear if an asset brought into the marriage has become co-mingled and thus belongs to both spouses, or has remained solely one spouse’s property.
Alternative dispute resolution methods like mediation are often useful in overcoming these differences. But if negotiations and ADR don’t work, taking the dispute to trial might be necessary. If that happens, your attorney will build a case based on the evidence in your best financial interests and present it to the judge or jury. However, trial tends to be rare in Minnesota divorce proceedings.
Contact our Attorneys today
You deserve a reasonable share of the marital property to help you move on to the next chapter of your life. Contact Terzich & Ort, LLP, today to schedule a consultation with one of our attorneys to learn how we handle complex property division matters.
