When parties divorce, there is often property that was acquired during the marriage that the parties need to divide when the marriage ends. Any property acquired during the marriage is considered “Community Property”, with some exceptions. The exceptions are generally gifts from third parties to only one spouse, inherited property, and settlements from lawsuits that only involve one of the spouses. Any property that a party owned before the marriage is considered to be the separate property of that party. Any appreciation of the value of separate property during the marriage, which can be attributed to the efforts of both spouses, can be considered “Community Property”.
“Community Property” can consist of many items that people might not consider to be property. “Community Property” may include pension rights, the value of businesses, and the value of professional licenses and degrees acquired during the marriage. To properly determine the value of “Community Property,” expert appraisals from pension actuaries, real estate appraisers, and accountants should be employed.
If you have significant “Community Property” such as real estate and pensions, you would be making a very serious mistake in not having the disposition of that property addressed in a written agreement. A written property settlement that is incorporated in the divorce process to divide property is known as a Property Settlement Agreement.
If you and your spouse have an agreement as to what your property is worth and how it is to be divided, I can incorporate that settlement in a property settlement agreement as part of your divorce. If you already have a property settlement agreement through the services of a divorce mediator, I can utilize that agreement to finalize your divorce.
The property settlement agreement should also address such items as credit card debt, car loans, title to cars, life insurance, security deposits, and the actual division of personal property such as furniture. If you have credit cards or a car loan for which both spouses are liable and you do not have a written agreement dividing up the responsibility for those debts, you may not have legal recourse if one party stops paying. If you are driving a car titled in your spouse’s name and you do not have a written agreement about the transfer of title, you may have no legal recourse if your spouse refuses to transfer title at a previously agreed-upon point in time. If you and your spouse are on the lease to an apartment, you should have a written agreement as to who will have the right to reside in the apartment after the divorce, who will pay the rent, and who is entitled to the security deposit. The small additional cost in having a divorce with a property settlement drawn up may be appropriate for the extra protection it provides, even where there are no major property items such as real estate or pensions to be divided.
