When you marry, your assets comingle with your spouse’s. Think of it like a giant pot – all of your property gets dumped into this pot. Everything in this pot is known as marital property. When you divorce, you or the court must decide how to separate this property. Sometimes, the process is painless; other times, it is hotly contested or downright confusing. This is dependant more on the personalities of the parties and their lawyers and less upon the amount or nature of assets. Because couples share a 50 / 50 interest in marital property, the court presumes to divide property equally.However, the court has discretion to be creative with division, including awarding more than 50 % of the property to one of the spouses.In any event, it is in your best interest to have an accomplished Indianapolis divorce attorney on your side.Division of property issues arise when: One spouse owned the property prior to the marriage. The property cannot be easily split in half, such as a piece of land or artwork. Both spouses want the property and are unwilling to share. One spouse has dissipated marital assets. One spouse has gained marital assets through inheritance or familial gift. For example, you and your former spouse purchased a house together after your wedding.You split the mortgage payment.Now, both of you want the house.The court cannot physically saw the house in half and give one half to each spouse.In addition, it is unlikely that you and your former spouse will want to continue living in the house together, sharing it.The court instead will have to determine if (1) the house should be sold and proceeds split or(2) one spouse should get the house.Usually, the spouse receiving real property will have to remove the name of the other from the property and mortgage.