How is property owned before marriage affected by a divorce?

During a divorce, the family law court must decide how to divide the assets of the marital community.  There are two types of property to divide, separate property and marital property.  Separate property is property that was owned by one spouse prior to the marriage.  Marital property is property acquired during the course of the marriage, and is jointly owned by both spouses.  Over forty states in the United States use equitable distribution to divide property during a divorce.

West Virginia state laws concerning property owned before marriage follow equitable distribution.  Instead of dividing the marital property in half, as in a community property state, equitable distribution examines the financial situation of both spouses and divides property based upon what the court believes to be fair.  The court looks at many factors in determining how to distribute the marital assets including the duration of the marriage, the standard of living of both spouses during the marriage, and whether one spouse gave up career opportunities to help raise children and take care of the home.  However, separate property is usually secure from equitable distribution in most scenarios.  Separate property is usually not considered in an equitable distribution of marital property following a divorce because separate property was the property of the spouse prior to marriage and is not the result of any labor or contribution by the other spouse.