How Women Should Divide Assets During Divorce

Dividing assets during divorce is often one of the most contentious and tricky parts about dissolving your marriage. If you are a woman going though a divorce, ensuring you get your fair share of divorce assets is key to ending up on firm financial footing after your marriage ends... so how should a woman handle divorce assets and dividing up your stuff?

Dividing Assets

The first key is knowing the laws in your state. If you live in a community property state, you are entitled to 50 percent of everything earned or acquired during the marriage. This is true whether you worked or where a stay at home mom or whether your husband earned much more or much less than you. If it was acquired, earned or bought during the marriage, you get half. The only things that are not split are money or assets owned prior to marriage, settlements form personal injuries, or inheritances--- unless those items were mixed with community property, in which case, they may be split too.

Equitable Distribution

if you don't live in a community property state, the state will likely impose rules calling for equitable division of assets. The specific definition will vary by state, but generally this means that the court will try to divide things up fairly.

While these rules exist for when a court divides up assets, you can also try to come to an agreement with your spouse in regards to divorce assets. if you can come up with your own financial settlement and dissolution of assets, the divorce will generally be quicker and less expensive since the court won't have to get involved. You can also be sure you get the assets that are most important to you in a divorce.

Settling Asset Division

You can draft a settlement agreement and the court will review it and sign off on it. However, before you do this, remember that you do have rights under the law... don't agree to something that isn't fair or that is less than what you are entitled to and don't let your husband pressure you or make you feel guilty if he worked and you didn't or if he earned more.

Get Legal Help

The best way to handle distribution of divorce assets is to get help from a family law attorney. He can help you to ensure that any settlement is fair, or if the court divides assets, he can help to represent you and make sure you get what you deserve.