Property Division

In a divorce, real and personal property is divided between the parties so that when they go their separate ways, their property clearly belongs to one party or their other, not to both.  Suppose you had a house and decided that you wanted to keep it as co-owners after the divorce.  What happens later down the road when things change?  If the property was awarded to both of you and one person wants to sell, but the other doesn’t, you will likely have to go back to court to resolve the matter.  And would it be fair to divide it equally?  If one party is paying the mortgage and upkeep and adding to the equity, but the other is not because the parties have gone their separate ways, would that be fair?  Or what if property is not removed from the other party’s home and it is lost, stolen or ruined?  The goal of a divorce is to separate out the assets and debts between the parties.  This means dissolving any joint ownership by either selling property and dividing the proceeds, allocating it equally between the parties (such as a financial account) or awarding it to only one spouse.  It means picking up the property that has been awarded and removing or transferring it from the party who no longer owns it.  Keeping joint assets in both names is not the goal of a divorce.  This goes for all kinds of property, such as retirement accounts, business interests, stocks, vehicles, houses, etc.  As an attorney, my goal is to resolve all the issues such that the parties each go their separate ways and need not be entangled with co-ownership or unresolved issues.  A clean break that resolves all matters with no loose ends is very important.  When resolutions can’t be reached, then it is important to go to trial and have a judge decide what happens.  At that point, you are finished and no longer need to communicate, reach additional resolutions, or have another court hearing to sort out property issues that should have already been addressed.