Division Of Property Flashcards
What is the community property approach?
An equal division of marital property. It is based on the guiding principle that marriage is a partnership.
What is the equitable distribution approach?
Orders a fair distribution of all marital property, taking into consideration all the circumstances between the parties. This is not necessarily an equal division of the assets.
What is marital property?
All property acquired during the marriage is marital property. Some state subject all property owned by either spouse equitable distribution (hotchpot approach). Title to property is a material.
What factors does a court consider in the distribution of marital property?
Length of marriage, prior marriages, age, health, earnings, and needs of both spouses, contributions to education, needs for future acquisitions, income/medical needs, contributions to increases in marital property, value of separate property standard of living, economic circumstances, custodianship of any minor children.
How are professional licenses or degrees treated?
Majority of jurisdictions do not treat a professional license or degree as a distributable property interest. Some courts may view it as an increased earning capacity, which may have an affect on the determination of alimony. A court can also use it equity power to award a spouse reimbursement for his actual contribution towards the other spouses educational and related living expenses.
How are retirement were a pension benefits treated?
Retirement or pension benefits acquired during the marriage are considered marital property and are subject to equitable distribution.
What are the two approaches to personal injury claim proceeds?
Some states hold that if the cause of action accrued during the marriage, the proceeds are marital property. Other jurisdictions be the nature of the word to determine whether to separate or marital property and alligate the award between nonmarital in marital property.
How are stock options treated?
Their marital property, if acquired during the marriage, even if they will not be exercised until after the marriage.
What is spousal support?
The obligation of one party to provide the other party with support and form of income. It is awarded in a divorce of one spouse cannot provide for his own needs with employment.
What factors does a quart consider when determining the eligibility and the amount of the maintenance award?
Financial resources of the spouse seeking support, standard of living, time for the receiving spouse to find employment, length of the marriage, contributions to the marriage, the parties age and health, and marital misconduct.
Can spousal support be modified?
Yes. The party seeking modification typically has the burden of establishing a significant and continuing change in circumstances and the needs of the dependence spouse or the financial abilities of the obligore that weren’t modification.
What is the doctrine of divisible divorce?
Also known as an ex parte divorce, a court with subject matter jurisdiction over the divorce action as well as personal jurisdiction over one spouse can grant a divorce question, but it cannot determine property division, alimony, or child support issues without personal jurisdiction over the other spouse.
How can a nonresident defendant attack the issuance of an ex parte divorce?
The nonresident defendant must make a collateral attack on jurisdiction by demonstrating that the plaintiff either was not domiciled in the divorcing state at the time that the judgment was granted or left the states domicile immediately after the entry of divorce.
