How to Split Things In a Divorce
Splitting things in a divorce can be done by the parties getting a divorce, if they can agree. If the parties cannot agree, the court will split the assets and liabilities for them. Many times, though both parties cannot agree, they are also not happy with the court's decision. The best way for the parties to split things is to come to an agreement between themselves if at all possible.
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Instructions
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Make a list of all assets and liabilities. If there are nonmarital assets and liabilities, move these to a separate page. Each person will take his own nonmarital assets and liabilities---if you came into the marriage with a debt, you leave with the debt. Your spouse should not be responsible for your personal debt, unless the debt became co-mingled during the marriage. The debt is co-mingled if you used your spouse's earnings to help pay that debt. Assets are co-mingled if your spouse used her money to gain equity in that asset.
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If an asset has a specific liability (i.e., home and mortgage), list the liability next to the asset to which it belongs. Subtract the liability from the asset to get the equity in the asset. Generally, if one spouse wants a particular asset, that spouse also takes the liability.
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Decide who will get which asset---when you add the assets for the husband and the wife, they should be somewhat equal. If something cannot be divided, but one spouse has more than the other spouse (because of a retirement account or another account that cannot be easily divided without incurring fees), the spouse with more assets should take on an extra liability to balance the numbers.
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Split the rest of the liabilities. Each spouse should take an equal amount of the balance of the liabilities.
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Pay one spouse a one-time lump sum payment. If you cannot divide the assets and liabilities equally, and one spouse has, for example, $10,000 more after everything has been divided, that spouse should pay the other spouse $5,000 in cash to equalize the sides.
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Tips & Warnings
This article was not written by an attorney. The information in this article cannot be used as legal advice.
