How Will My Property Be Divided?

Advice from Our Birmingham Divorce Lawyers

Dividing your property is a major concern during a divorce. You may be afraid that your spouse will take too much, or that you will get too little. These concerns become especially important if one partner works while the other does not, or if one spouse inherited or received a large estate during the marriage.

Alabama Is an Equitable Division State

Equitable division means that marital property and debts must be divided fairly between both spouses.

This can be accomplished by any of the following methods:

• Agreeing with your soon-to-be ex on how to divide everything
• Being honest about your assets, and which were received before and during the marriage
• Asking the court and the judge for help
• Hiring an attorney as a neutral third-party negotiator

Marital vs. Separate Property

In the state of Alabama, property is considered to be marital or separate. When you or your spouse has received property before your marriage, the courts may not divide it, unless that property has been used for benefit of both parties during their marriage. This, however, is not the norm and usually only occurs when the marriage has lasted for more than 10 years.

You can reach an agreement with your spouse. In these cases, you may “comingle” marital and separate property and divide the property as evenly and as fairly as you see fit. No matter what your situation, it is always in your best interest to work together to come to an agreement.