8,391
edits
Changes
→Dividing family property
===Dividing family property===
Family property is everything either you or your spouse own together or separately on the date you separate. This includes such things as:
*you take on after your separation date to maintain family property.
====There are exceptions to the equal division rule==== A court will can order that family property and debt be divided unequally only if it would be '''significantly unfair ''' to divide it equally. In considering whether an equal division would be significantly unfair, a court will look at factors such as: *the length of the spouses’ relationship,*whether the debt was incurred in the normal course of the spouses’ relationship,*if the amount of family debt exceeds the value of family property, the ability of each spouse to pay a share of the family debt,*whether a spouse, after separation, caused a significant increase or decrease in the value of debt or property, and*whether a spouse may have to pay taxes as a result of a transfer of property.
====Some property is excluded from the equal division rule ====
Some things are not family property. They are ''excluded'' from the rule that the property must be divided equally. For example, these things are excluded:
*Property one spouse owned before the relationship started.