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Some Popular Divorce Myths...

"If you leave the house, your husband gets it." - Wrong. Whether the equity in a home is divided between you has to do with who purchased it, when it was purchased, and with what money, as well as whether both of you contributed to the upkeep and mortgage. Leaving the house does not give up any claim to the real estate as marital property.

"If I am the only one on the title to the car/boat/house, I own it." Wrong. As for third parties (other people outside the marriage, this is true. But in divorce, assets purchased during the marriage are presumed by the court to be marital (and therefore to be divided) unless proven otherwise.

"I should get half of his pay, right?" Maybe wrong. This depends on a large number of variables...how long the marriage was, number of children, the relative incomes and educations of the parties, and more. Assets and debts are divided equitably (notice I did not say equally because equitable--meaning fair--does not necessarily mean "equal," but a spouse's income is not necessarily divided in half to be paid to the other party. In fact, usually that is not the case in the typical divorce.

"Because she cheated on me, she can't get (part of the house, the car, the dog, alimony, etc.)" Wrong. The cause of the divorce (the "why") usually has no bearing on the child support, maintenance (alimony), and division of property and debt. This might play into custody/visitation however depending on the facts. Waste of marital money by a spouse as part of the cheating, however (like plane tickets, an apartment rented for a girlfriend) is different and figures into the division of assets and debt in the case--this is known as "dissipation" or "waste" of marital assets.

Hope these help. If any questions, please email me at raifordpalmer@hotmail.com.

posted by Raiford Palmer at 10:25 PM

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