Throughout marriages, couples in New Jersey build a life together. This involves having children, buying homes, growing bank accounts, retirement accounts, investment accounts, buying vehicles, starting and growing businesses and sharing what they have built together. However, if the couple goes through a divorce they need to split everything that they built and shared. They need to make decisions about custody and parenting time if they have minor children and need to divide the property that they acquired during the marriage.
Dividing property, like other aspects of a divorce, can be both emotional and complicated. When dividing property people need to first determine what property is martial and what is non-marital. Once that is determined the couple will need to determine the value of their property. This process alone can be complicated depending on the amounts and types of assets that the couple owns. Once the couple knows the value of their marital property, they can begin dividing it.
Factors used to determine division of property
In New Jersey marital property is divided equitably. This does not necessarily mean that the assets will be divided equally. When determining how assets will be divided, the court will analyze a number of factors. These include, but are not limited to:
- Age and health of each spouse.
- Each spouse’s income, earning capacity and economic circumstances.
- The standard of living the couple established during the marriage.
- Each spouse’s contribution towards obtaining the assets, which can include their contributions as a homemaker
- The couple’s debts
- Other relevant factors to determine an equitable division of assets
There are many couples who go through divorces in New Jersey each year. Each one of these divorces are unique and the outcome of the divorce will depend on the unique circumstances of the marriage. Part of the outcome with be an equitable division of the couple’s marital assets, which will be different in each divorce. Experienced attorneys understand how assets are divided and may be able to guide one through the process.
