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Will property division be 50/50?

On Behalf of | Jan 28, 2021 | Property Division |

Texas is a community property state. There are only a small number of community property states in the U.S. Most states are equitable distribution states. The difference between the two is in the division of property and if it is fair or equal.

According to Business Insider, a community property state divides property equally while an equitable distribution state divides property fairly. It may not seem like a big difference, but it can be huge when you are the one going through the divorce

The basics

In a community property state, your assets become equally yours and your spouses when you marry unless an asset is something you had prior to the marriage, from an inheritance or a gift. The court will divide those assets 50/50 between you during property division in a divorce unless you find another way to equally divide your marital assets as a whole. The bottom line is that when you leave the marriage, you each leave with half of the value of the marital assets.

The complications

While it is easy to say all property you owned prior to your marriage is yours and all property you acquire during the marriage belongs to both of you equally, it does not always work that way. It is possible to commingle separate property so that it becomes fully or partially marital property.

Comingling would be a situation where you use separate property in a way to gain marital property. For example, you owned a vehicle prior to marriage but sold that vehicle and used the money as a down payment on a vehicle for the family.

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