One of the most pressing topics for most divorcees, is what becomes of their assets. From owning a business, a home— anything really. When it comes to divorce, this is probably the part that makes your stomach do somersaults. After all, you put your blood, sweat, and tears into building what you have. So, where do we go from there? A term you’ll become quickly familiar with, is equitable distribution of property. To better understand this, we’re going to lay it out there for you. From what the court rules on, to how, and special considerations…
Equitable Distribution of Property: Understanding Divorce
The first step towards equitable distribution, is deciding what the court can rule on, and what they cannot. This will be decided based on what qualifies as marital property, and what does not. In short, any property that you acquired while you were married, is marital property. However, if you acquired that property before you were married, it is non-marital property. While this is quite a simple concept, there are certain situations where non-marital property can become marital property. This may happen with, say, a house that one spouse owned. But, upon marriage, both parties live in the house, work on it together, and begin benefitting from it together. In that instance, the judge has discretion on whether or not that property is marital.
South Carolina court follows Equitable Distribution laws, which say that the court will divide the property in a fair way. Keep in mind, that does not always mean the equitable distribution means 50/50. Rather, the court looks at different factors to decide how to split it up. There are fifteen specific factors in a SC Code on divorce.
A few of these factors are as follows:
- The length of the marriage
- Marital fault
- The marital property’s value
- Value of non-marital property
- Each spouse’s income and earning potential
If not 50/50, how does marital property get split up?
Typically, the longer the marriage the more likely it is that the court will try to split the assets evenly between the spouses. Likewise, if the marriage was very short, the court may just apportion each party with the property they came into the marriage with. This is because usually the shorter the marriage, the less marital property and mutual benefit. However, the court can decide to deviate from these trends as they see fit.
The court can order one spouse to sign over any piece of marital property to the other. This includes public or private assets, transfers of stock, deeds, mortgage changes, and more. Furthermore, military pensions and retirement benefits earned during the marriage count as marital property. Thus, they may also be subject to division.
Overall, there are many factors that affect how the court decides to divide property. Like most issues in family law, it is very complex. If you’re going through a divorce, it’s important to hire a family lawyer. A good lawyer will advocate for you through the process, and prepare you for each possible outcome. We wish you luck during this difficult process, and offer our services if you might need them.