The court cannot distribute property until the end of a case, and the only property order which a court can enter while the suit is pending is a freeze order, ordering both parties not to sell or dispose of property until a final hearing. Marital property is all property that is either jointly titled, or acquired during the marriage other than by gift from third persons or by inheritance, no matter how titled. The court is allowed to award jointly titled property to either party, or order such property sold. There is no presumption of equal division of marital property under Virginia law. Separate, non-marital property is all property acquired before the marriage in the sole name of either party, and property acquired by one party solely during the marriage by gift from third persons or by inheritance, or with the proceeds of separate property, as long as the proceeds of such non marital property have themselves been kept separate during the marriage.
Hybrid property is a piece of property that is partly marital and partly separate.
Ordinarily, separate property which is contributed to martial property during the marriage becomes marital, but if the amount of the contribution of separate property can be documented and traced by a preponderance of the evidence, the property may be treated as hybrid property. For example, if one spouse sells a home that they owned prior to the marriage and uses the proceeds from their separate, pre-marital asset to purchase or contribute to an asset during the marriage, hybrid property may be created if the separate proceeds which were contributed remain traceable. Marital contributions to separate property can be considered gifts from the marriage to one spouse, however, an increase in the value of separate property during the marriage may be considered marital property if one can show that the increase resulted from contributions of marital property, or the substantial personal efforts of either spouse. Since the engagement ring was acquired prior to the marriage, it is considered separate property. If the house was acquired during the marriage, it is considered marital property unless it was purchased by one spouse with entirely separate funds, and only that spouse appears on the title.