Not everything owed by two spouses is subject to division by a court in the event of divorce. Only marital property, which includes assets held jointly by both parties or acquired by either party during their marriage, is subject to division.
Property that an individual spouse owned before they got married and never commingled with their spouse’s assets is considered separate property and cannot be equitably distributed by a divorce court. Likewise, inheritances and gifts received by one spouse from someone other than the other spouse during their marriage are considered separate property.
The presumption that both spouses jointly own property acquired during a marriage is rebuttable. In other words, it is possible for one spouse to successfully argue before a court that newly acquired property remained under sole ownership and is therefore not subject to division during divorce. Assistance from an asset division lawyer in Fort Lee could be crucial to properly identifying, valuing, and ensuring the equitable distribution of marital property.