Marital Property Concerns

If you are going through a divorce, you may be feeling overwhelmed by all the changes. When dividing assets, you may be having worries about your property. Here are some marital property concerns.

Marital Property Concerns | The Division of Marital Property

If your divorce in New York is contested, and you and your spouse cannot agree on how to divide your property, the court will decide for you. Factors include:

• The duration of the marriage.

• The age, health, occupation, amount and sources of income, vocational skills, marketable skills, estate, liabilities and needs of each spouse.
• Whether either spouse has contributed to the property or family unit as a homemaker.
• How each spouse contributed to the acquisition, preservation, or increase or decrease in value of the marital or non-marital property.
• Whether either spouse has squandered marital assets.
• The value of the property assigned to each spouse.
• The financial circumstances of each spouse.
• Any obligation and rights arising from a prior marriage of either spouse.
• The tax consequences to each spouse.
• Whether there are children and what their custodial needs may be.
• The reasonable opportunity of each spouse for future acquisition of capital assets and income.

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Marital Property Concerns | Life Insurance

Life insurance is a marital asset; it may be distributed to either party. If there are children involved, attorneys often can negotiate revisions in the settlement allowing for the continuation of a policy. If you are the party receiving child support and spousal support, you should consider inserting a provision that requires the moneyed and non-custodial spouse (if this is the same person) to take out a life insurance policy as a security for spousal and child support payments, at least for as long as those payments are to last. The court, however, cannot require a party to take out a life insurance policy; it must be negotiated.

If you have any further marital property concerns, please call Buffalo divorce lawyer Randy Gugino for a consultation.