Three Factors that Will Help You Divide Your Marital Assets

If you are going through a divorce, you may be asking yourself how you properly divide your assets and your life fairly and equally with your spouse.  It can be a difficult process, because most of your belongings and property likely hold value to your life in some way.  In order to properly divide your assets, you and your spouse want to keep the process as civil as possible.  As a divorce attorney in Orlando, we recommend a few strategies to help you and your spouse properly divide your assets when you are going through a divorce.

Keep It Civil

Divorce can occur under many different circumstances.  It can be a mutual decision, or it can be a bitter dispute that truly never gets resolved.  When going through divorce proceedings, it is essential to keep your emotions out of it.  Instead, focus on finalizing the details so that you can move on with your life.  Keep it as civil as possible, and use the counsel of your legal team to drive your discussions and negotiations.  Tell them what you want, and they will fight for you.  Keep the drama to a minimum so your legal team can do their job.

Be Fair and Honest

When you are negotiating your assets with your spouse, be fair and honest about what you truly need and want from the marriage.  If you do not intend on staying in your home, this might be a place to concede.  If you have children, consider what you'll need for them to have as much normalcy as possible throughout this transition.  This will require you to take inventory of your community property, and then come up with a list of what you need to keep.  Be sure that you don't hide anything, because this will cause more work for your lawyers in the long run.

Understand the Legal Terms

When you are going through a divorce, your legal team will be there to assist you through it.  We will help you to make the best choices for your life.  This involves understanding the difference between community and separate property.  These terms will likely play a role in many of your discussions with both your spouse and lawyers.  Community property is anything that was earned or acquired during the marriage.  Any houses, income, retirement savings, or joint accounts that were opened during the marriage are typical community property.  Separate property, on the other hand, is anything that you personally owned before the marriage began or after you filed for divorce.  

When you are going through a divorce, you will have to make difficult decisions that perhaps you never thought you'd have to make.  In order to make this process smooth and as easy as possible, follow these few tips.  Ask your divorce attorney in Orlando for any assistance throughout the process in order to ensure proper legal action is taken.  This will help finalize your divorce and allow you to move onto a new chapter of your life.