Property division, as the name suggests, means gathering the assets and debts and determining how they will be distributed among the divorcing spouses.
Michigan law requires that marital property be divided in a way that is fair, based on the circumstances. Marital assets are those obtained by one or both spouses during the course of a marriage. That commonly includes a house, financial savings, pension and retirement accounts, cars and other property. Separate assets, on the other hand, are generally those that one spouse brings with him or her to the marriage or that a spouse received during the marriage as a separate gift, such as an inheritance, and kept the property separate from the marital estate. That property typically stays with the spouse who brought it into the marriage and kept it separate during the marriage when a couple divorces.
Courts consider a number of factors when determining how to divide marital assets. Judges typically look at how long the couple was married, each spouse’s individual financial situation, earning capacity and health status, and the spouses’ contributions to the marital estate during the marriage.