This is the question every lawyer came up over and over when any couple decided to get divorce. Usually when a couple get divorced they get worried because of the house they own. When a person buy a house for him before marriage and after that he decides to marry and live with his spouse there happily but the sad part comes when he headed toward divorce. He becomes concerned about the house he owns that, that house is going to be included in the marital pot for division of property.
If You Do Not Have A Prenuptial
Agreement
So the way that this works is that if you do not have a prenuptial agreement. What people know as a prenup which is a contract as to how property is divided if there is a divorce?
If you don’t have one of those then by default all of the property owned by either party whether individually or jointly, whether bought before or during the marriage is considered for division. Now the fact that it’s considered for division doesn’t mean that it will actually be divided or that either party will get a certain percentage of it in divorce.
To figure that out the court looks at a number of different factors the court will look at the length of the marriage, the amount of time the parties were a financial unit, the party’s assets, their income, their health, their age and a number of other factors. But on this particular issue the most important factors are one length of the marriage. The longer the marriage, the more likely it is that a premarital asset will be included for division.
Number Two How Long Were The Parties
Financially Unit?
So if the parties were only married for five years, but were living together for 20 years, and were a financial unit for 20 years, and although the house was bought before the marriage, it was bought during their relationship, and money from their relationship, from their financial unit was being pumped into that house, then that also increases the likelihood that the house will be considered for division.
So you have length of the marriage, the length of time the parties were financially unit when the house was purchased in relation to those other two factors. And the contributions that were made while these people were a financial unit to that particular piece of property.
Conclusion
People don't think about the long-term repercussions of marriage when they get married. The couple got married because they wanted to have a family, but if their union doesn't work out, the next step in their life is a divorce. Divorce entails not only the dissolution of the couple's marriage but also the division of their assets. The other partner has to share whatever the spouse has. It doesn't matter whether it's money, land, or any other kind of tangible or intangible property.
