Geography

• State laws determine how marital property will be divided if a marriage dissolves. Some states are community property or marital property distributions. These states divide property according to separate property or marital property distributions. Forty-three states are equitable distribution states.
  
  

Types

• Separate property is property owned prior to marriage. For a spouse to keep it separate, it must not be commingled into marital property. Separate property may include bequests or inherited gifts to one spouse even if the spouse acquired it during the marriage. Judges might not recognize property as separate property if time or money is spent in its upkeep. Family law judges in equitable distribution jurisdictions, on the other hand, attempt to divide property equitably. Equitable distribution factors include the duration of the marriage, age and occupation of the spouses and relative earning potential.
  
  

Prevention/Solution

• If the spouses have a valid property settlement agreement or prenuptial agreement in place, then courts will divide property according to the agreed-upon provisions within that agreement.