How Does Separation Affect Property Rights?

When you choose to separate, your property rights are definitely affected. In Raleigh, NC, an experienced separation lawyer can provide you with information and legal help specific to your needs that will best allow you to protect your rights.

How Separation Affects Property Rights in Raleigh, NC

In North Carolina, the moment you and your spouse set up separate residences is the point where your economic partnership as a married couple ends. At that moment, any assets or debts that you acquire are yours alone, and any assets or debts that your spouse acquires are theirs alone.

Everything, both assets and debts, that the two of you acquired during the marriage, up until the date that you set up separate residences, is considered marital property and will be divided between you unless you can prove that it should be classified as separate property.

What’s the Difference Between Marital Property and Separate Property?

Marital property is anything either partner acquired from the date your marriage was legally formalized to the date that you legally separate. It doesn’t matter if only one spouse acquired it: it belongs to you both.

The only exceptions are any property that was owned by one partner alone prior to the marriage and any gifts or inheritances made to just one of the partners during the marriage. Those items are known as separate property, but they can become marital property if they are mixed with marital property during the course of the marriage.

How Does the Court Divide Marital Property?

Because North Carolina operates under an “equitable distribution” model rather than a strict community-property model, the court begins with the presumption that dividing the net value of your marital property equally will be fair, but that is just the starting point. The court will consider a list of factors in making the final decision about dividing things up, including:

• Each party’s income and assets
• All liabilities at the time of distribution
• How long the marriage lasted
• Each party’s age and health
• Whether there are children and one custodial parent
• Contributions made by earning wages
• Contributions made as a homemaker
• Any assistance one party provided to the other in career or education
• The tax consequences to both parties
• Any direct or indirect efforts made by either party to increase separate property value

Can We Choose How to Divide Our Property?

Many couples can avoid a court battle by signing a separation agreement after the date of separation. This notarized contract lets you privately decide how to divide everything. You may also want your lawyer to help you turn the agreement into a court consent judgment for extra enforceability, especially for things like pensions, which need special court orders to be divided.

Talk to a Separation Lawyer

Sorting through mixed assets, valuing pensions or businesses, tracing separate contributions, and weighing all the factors can get complicated quickly. Request a consultation with Gantt Family Law today in Raleigh, Apex, Durham, or Sanford for help protecting your rights.

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