Addressing the division of property. In your Marital Settlement Agreement the two of you will decide what you think is a fair division of your property...
Addressing the division of property. In your Marital Settlement Agreement the two of you will
decide what you think is a fair division of your property.
If you were to go to court and have the judge decide this issue, the judge would have to
create an absolutely dollar for dollar equal division of your community property. If you feel that
is fair, you may divide your property in that way. If you feel something other than an absolutely
dollar for dollar division would be the fairest way to deal with your situation, that is fine;
however, prior to agreeing upon your division, you will need to understand what each of you
would be entitled if you went into court so that any waiver of your rights is a knowing and
intelligent waiver.
Basically, addressing the division of property to create an equal division is a four step process:
Step 1- Decide what property (assets and debts) is out there to be divided
Step 2- Decide who should get what
Step 3- Decide the value of each piece of property
Step 4- If the value of all of the property (value of all assets minus all debts) that one
person is taking exceeds the value of all of the property the other person is taking, then
some of the property would need to be shifted to equalize the amounts, or the person taking
more in value might have to provide the other person with a payment to equalize the
amounts.
Step 1 - What to divide?
Each of you is entitled to half of all community property. Community property is anything
(assets or debts) that either of you acquired during the marriage. Separate property is
anything either of you acquired prior to the marriage, after the date of separation, or during the
by gift or inheritance.
You may have some assets which are mixed community property and separate property. In ·
that case, we will help you to figure out what portion is community property and which portion
is separate property.
Step 2 - Dividing Property
The two of you will decide on a preliminary basis, who would take what.
Step 3 - Valuing Property
You may need assistance in determining the value of property. If so, you may need to do further research or hire a professional to appraise the value of the property.Items most commonly appraised are real property (houses etc.), retirement plans, and businesses. You may have other items which could be appraised as well.
Step 4 - Equalizing
If at the end of step 3 a judge had the below (reference art below), the judge would have to either take some of the property out of Wife's column and give it to Husband, or order Wife to pay Husband an equalization payment. For instance, the Judge could award Husband almost all of the community interest in Wife'sCalSTRS account. This would result in an equal division.In the above division, if no items were shifted, Wife would owe Husband $75 ,000 in order to equalize their two columns. ($290 ,000 - $75 ,000 = $215 ,000 and $140 ,000 + 75,000 =$215,000)
