Frederick Jace
Dividing assets is one of the essential parts of a divorce case. There are two primary ways the division of support can be done in droves. One of them is a divorce settlement where the spouses decide mutually to split the asset and make an agreement outside court. Sometimes if the spouses cannot come out with common grounds, they can opt for mediation in their divorce case. Meditation Is one of the best ways to avoid asset distribution in court, as that decision is not in your hands.
In mediation, a court representative will attend the meeting between both parties and their lawyers. In this situation, the parties and their lawyer can negotiate their time and conditions. However, you will need an expert Birmingham divorce lawyer for asset distribution in your divorce case.
Steps to divide your assets in a divorce
- Community vs. separate assets
An essential concern in a divorce case is property distribution. However, it depends on your state how the law views property ownership. Generally, two types of property ownership are recognized by the law and court. The first is community property ownership, where the court will decide on asset division in your divorce case.
The court first reviews all your assets and determines which property should belong to which spouse. However, this can be affected by multiple aspects depending on your divorce case. For example, the court will determine which issue is finally dependent on the other, which spouse gets the child custody, or you both share joint custody, etc.
Another distribution is of separate assets. Most assets that a spouse individually owns are considered individual assets. In most states, the court decides to keep those assets with the primary owner and not distribute them in the divorce; however, it can change in some situations.
- Bank accounts
Generally, married couples have at least one joint bank account where they share the finances for some things. Whether it is household chores or investments, a joint statement is maintained by both spouses and mainly has an equal contribution.
So when you are dividing your assets for divorce, you should be on the funds in your joint accounts. Since both spouses have an equal right to access the account, you need to check the finances and statements of joint accounts.
It would be best if you created a comprehensive list of all your accounts. However, you can keep aside the personally owned account and focus on the joint ones. Start by dividing the marital assets and joint accounts and move on to other separate ones.
