Can My Spouse Take Everything In A Divorce?
Can My Spouse Take Everything In A Divorce?
Your spouse may no longer want to be in a committed relationship with you, or they may want a divorce and now you’re asking all your friends about Calgary divorce lawyers. Whatever the case might be, you’re now in the midst of a divorce and you may be wondering what could happen; especially when it comes to dividing your assets. These questions can pop up: Will my husband get everything? Can my wife take all the money I’ve saved up? What happens if we have children?
You may be thinking these thoughts because you’re imagining the worst-case scenario, but don’t worry. If you and your spouse are able to work together, you will both come out on top – just not as much as each other. The goal of this article is to guide people through their divorce by explaining why couples split their assets, what goes into a divorce settlement and how it gets done.
Dividing Assets
When deciding how to divide up the marital assets, you and your spouse may need the help of a Calgary divorce lawyer. Whether you decide to go through the divorce process with or without the assistance of a lawyer is entirely up to you. Throughout your marriage, you’ve likely acquired a variety of assets and debts that need to be divided.
If you are unable to come to an agreement on how to split your assets the court will do it for you, but this doesn’t mean that you necessarily get 50% of everything. The court does not view assets as “yours” and “mine.” Instead, the court views all marital assets as community assets and all separate property as individually owned. This means the court will generally treat income earned during marriage in the same way, which means anything you did to generate income during your marriage belongs to the community and can be used to determine a fair distribution of your assets.
How Are Household Items Split In A Divorce?
If you and your spouse are getting a divorce, you will have to divide the property you own between yourselves. This can be a complicated process. There are several different ways you can do this. You have to agree on what items are in each pile and how much they are worth.
This of course would be idealistic, not everyone will be able to amiably communicate with their spouse and split up joint property. A valuable option is to meet with a divorce mediator – this is a neutral third party that will help you and your spouse come up with solutions about your divorce, such as the division of assets (as well as debts), a mediator is often a much less expensive alternative to highly recommended Calgary divorce lawyers. They also help keep things friendly between you and your spouse in the long run by showing your both how to effectively communicate with one another – this is a great idea if the two of you share children together.
What Assets Cannot Be Split?
When most people hear the term “marital property,” visions of trips around the world, lavish wedding celebrations and expensive cars come to mind. But marital property doesn’t always include high-dollar assets like art, jewelry or cars; any assets the couple acquires during their marriage are considered marital property.
What kinds of assets aren’t going to be divided? There are a variety of reasons why a court may leave certain properties with one spouse or the other. Often, the following will be excluded from division:
- premarital property
- gifts, and
- inheritances.
Overall, focusing on the future and working together will help you get through the divorce. If you aren’t working with each other to look at assets, liabilities and the future of your new lives as individuals and as a family, then it might be time to rethink your process. Divorce is difficult for everyone involved, but it can be more manageable when both parties are able to work with each other. If not, one side may find themselves in a worse situation than they could have been otherwise.
