Marital Deduction

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.