Nassau County Equitable Division of Property

A Nassau County equitable distribution of property lawyer can assist you in a divorce when you are concerned with protecting your interests and recovering all necessary property. Given that the award of property can significantly influence your life after the divorce is concluded, you will want a lawyer who has an extensive track record of fighting hard on behalf of people who are moving forward with equitable distribution. Many people confuse the word equitable with equal.

Judges are not responsible for splitting assets and liabilities immediately down the middle. Instead they are responsible for making an equitable or a fair distribution of property. There is a chance that you and your spouse may have significant marital property that has been accumulated. Separate property is not included for the stakes of equitable distribution. A Nassau County equitable distribution of property lawyer can tell you more about your rights.

A Nassau County equitable distribution of property attorney will explain to you that separate property may include that that has been entered into the marriage such as investments or cash savings you had before getting married. However, over the course of your marriage, you and your spouse more than likely obtained more cash and property. The cash and property that was obtained during this time is likely to be classified as marital and therefore, subject to equitable distribution of property. You can enter into your own marital agreement if you wish to do so, such as a post-nuptial or pre-nuptial agreement. You may already have a document in place in terms of guidelines of a separation agreement.

However, outside of these circumstances, the judge may be responsible for determining what happens to your property.

Marital property includes advanced educational degrees and permits, securities, bank accounts and cash, personal property and any real property that you or your spouse bought during the marriage. Separate property includes inheritances and property described as separate in a written agreement between you and your spouse, and compensation that was received for personal injuries during the marriage not associated with your lost wages or earning capacity during the marriage. Unless you have co-mingled or mixed your separate property with marital property, your separate property will remain individually yours after the divorce as does the spouse's separate property. Make sure you know what property is yours individually vs. that which is classified inside the marriage.

The court then confirms that your separate property belongs to you and that the spouse’s separate property belongs to them. The equitable distribution of property will consider numerous different factors including the length of the marriage, the health of both spouses, the property and income of each spouse at the time of the marriage as well as at the time of the divorce, any award of maintenance or support that the court may already have made, the loss of health insurance benefits from one spouse to another because of a divorce, whether or not there are any minor children involved and how the spouse's financial situation will be affected by this, and the liquid and non-liquid nature of all marital property as well as whether or not one spouse made contributions to marital property that the other spouse did not have title to, such as one spouse putting in significant effort to assist the other one obtaining a degree or certification that enhances that spouse's ability to earn a living.