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Property of the marriage is to be divided "equitably." Equitably does not mean equally, but in many cases the division of marital property will be substantially equal. Marital property means all property acquired by either spouse subsequent to the marriage except: (a) Property acquired by gift or inheritance; (b) Property acquired in exchange for separate property; (c) Property acquired after a decree of legal separation; and (d) Property excluded by valid agreement of the parties. The filing of the divorce does not change the rule: all property acquired until the granting of the decree is marital unless it fits within an exception. The simplest way to approach division of property is to make a list of all of the assets and then place them in "his" and "hers" columns. The goal is to have the values of the items in each column be equal, or such other ratio as you determine to be fair. Here is an example of a spreadsheet we use in our office. Of course, the sheets we create are live computations linking multiple variables that affect the outcome of the case. An expert may be needed to determine the value of a business or do a real estate appraisal. You will need to determine if it would be cost-effective and valuable to your case to have such valuations or appraisals. Cases involving business valuation or professional practice valuation are particularly complex because they involve a mix of objective and subjective factors. These cases require both a competent valuation expert and an experienced divorce attorney to make sure the correct objective factors are used and that the subjective factors are applied appropriately. If your case involves a trust interest, you may want to look at articles we have prepared on Trusts as Property in Divorce.
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