Definition of "Marital deduction"

Tax deduction permitted upon the transfer of property from one spouse to another. The deduction is allowed under the federal gift tax for lifetime transfers or under the federal estate tax for transfers of a decedent.

Comments for Marital Deduction

Carolyn Mingo Carolyn Mingo said:

If an owner gets married after they bought a home, now divorcing does the other have rights to property?

Feb 05, 2020  09:53:02

 
Real Estate Agent

Hey, Carolyn! Well, it depends. It is common for couples to decide between them how they are going to the divided property. But, if they cant come to an agreement, the property dispute is taken to court. Here is where things are decided a bit differently in some states compared to others. There is the so-called, community property and equitable distribution. The community property scheme is used by courts in Alaska, Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, Louisiana, Texas, Mexico, Washington, Wisconsin, and Puerto Rico to settle property disputes. In these states, the property can be classified as community property or property equally owned by both spouses or it can be classified as separate property of one spouse. If the couple goes through a divorce, community property is divided equally between the spouses and each spouse gets to keep their separate property. On the other hand, courts in all the other states use a scheme called equitable distribution. This means that assets, earnings, and property accumulated during a marriage is fairly distributed between the spouses at divorce, but not necessarily equally. In some cases, judges might ask one of the spouses to use separate property to make a fair settlement. The division is not necessarily physical, but rather it refers to the value of the property, therefore one spouse might receive a percentage of the total value of the property. We have an article about divorce and real estate that talk about these things more in-depth, so you might want to check it out.

Apr 10, 2020  09:23:19
 
 
image of a real estate dictionary page

Have a question or comment?

We're here to help.

*** Your email address will remain confidential.
 

 

Popular Real Estate Terms

Site where mobile homes are located. Mobile home parks are often mandated by municipal zoning laws. They provide necessary utilities to the mobile homes often including recreational ...

The right to possess, exclusively occupy, enjoy, control, and dispose of real estate. Ownership rights to realty are granted by the ownership of a title to real property. ...

Effect on the market price of houses as interest rate change. For example, when mortgage interest rates rise, the prices of houses tend to fall. ...

The Multiple Listing Service (MLS) is an exclusive database of properties created by real estate agents and brokers. The idea behind the creation of the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) ...

Association of people not treated as a corporation. Examples are a limited partnership and a group of cooperative owners. ...

Privilege granted by a franchiser to a franchisee permitting the latter to operate using the franchiser's name. The franchisee must pay a franchise fee for such right. In addition, the ...

The appraisal approach is used to estimate the value of an asset, based on various factors to reach the closest educated guess of the asset. While an appraisal approach does consider the ...

The amount of a periodic payment, whether monthly, quarterly, or annually, including interest and principal, required for a mortgage payment. ...

Combined action of two or more people either for or against something. In real estate, used to indicate a common property ownership interest. Joint is also used to indicate a shared ...

Popular Real Estate Questions