Division of Assets Lawyer in Spanish Fort, AL

Spanish Fort, AL has homes that cost well above the national average. So, when it comes time to divide your assets in a divorce, it’s very important to take your time with this part of your divorce since it can determine your financial security as you move into single life.

It’s likely that over the course of your marriage, you and your partner have accrued a lot in Spanish Fort. Your assets may include stocks, retirement funds, homes and other real estate, antiques, inherited items, and more. One of the most important parts of securing a fair division of assets is connecting with a divorce attorney in Spanish Fort. Without strong legal representation, you’re at risk of giving up far too much at the request of your spouse. Call Coumanis & York at 251-990-3083 to set up a consultation right away.

Is Your Spanish Fort Home Marital Property or Separate?

When you’re looking at property you have accumulated in Spanish Fort throughout your marriage, you have to ask: is it marital or is it separate? While marital property is split up during a divorce, separate property remains with each individual party. As you can imagine, many divorcing spouses really try to get valuable assets categorized as separate assets.

Generally, anything that is acquired during a marriage is considered marital property. This may include homes purchased together, businesses started by one or both parties, physical assets purchased, and retirement accounts. In a long marriage, the court may award a percentage of one partner’s retirement accounts to the other.

Separate assets are those earned by one party before the marriage. Consider, for example, a house you bought on your own. If you rent it out and keep the profits separate from marital checking accounts, it may remain solely yours after divorce.

There are situations in which this isn’t quite so cut and dry. If assets become commingled, separate property can become marital property. For example, in the prior example, the home may become marital property if both parties pay toward it and benefit from it.

Inheritances and gifts to just one party are generally kept separate during a divorce.

Dividing the Property Fairly

In Spanish Fort, courts use the concept of equitable division. Equal division means giving each party half of the marital assets. Equitable division strives for a fair division, which may mean giving one party significantly more than the other. A wide range of factors impact how assets are divided in Alabama.

Relevant Factors

Not sure how to divide Spanish Fort assets fairly, or what the courts will do if the final decision is left up to them? It’s important to be familiar with the factors at play in the division of assets and debts. These factors include:

• How long the marriage was
• Each spouse’s earning ability and current employment
• How much each party has in separate assets
• The standard of living enjoyed by both parties during the marriage
• Each spouse’s age and overall health
• Financial and non-financial sacrifices made for the family
• The types of property being distributed
• How the division will affect each party during tax time
• Each spouse’s needs, considering child custody and other factors
• Each spouse’s other sources of income
• Whether or not one party was at fault for the divorce

Your attorney will look at these same factors while negotiating a fair division with your ex-partner’s attorney.

How Our Team Can Help

What you leave a marriage with can literally determine what your post-divorce life looks like in Spanish Fort. If you give away everything just to be done with the marriage and have a fresh start, you may have internal peace—but you may also have lots of financial struggles. On the other hand, if you fight for every single thing on the list, you may come away with a larger share of assets but a much higher attorney’s bill. There’s a lot at play during a divorce, and our team is here to guide you through all of your options.

We’ll start with a thorough inventory of everything you’ve acquired during the marriage and figure out what is marital and what is separate. From there, we’ll listen to you. What is most important to you? What are you willing to give up?

A fair valuation of your assets is also essential. You may give up the marital home based on your ex’s claim that it’s worth $500,000. Two years later, you find out the house was actually worth $1.5 million at the time of the divorce, and you gave up at least $750,000. You need to be fully informed to make the right decision for you.

If you have specialty items, such as antiques or high-end furniture, we will help secure valuation specialists that can figure out exactly how much everything is worth. This is also important for cryptocurrency, which is an issue in an increasing number of divorces. The value of cryptocurrency fluctuates wildly, and you need help from an expert to get your fair share.

Our team will also help you decide what you want to do with everything you get. If you get half of the Spanish Fort marital home, do you want to sell it to your ex-partner, buy them out of their half and keep the home, or sell the home to a third party? If you own a Spanish Fort business, do you want to take over full ownership or sell it all to your ex-spouse? Would you rather have physical assets or the money they’re worth? You have to look at what your post-divorce plans are and how you plan on accomplishing them.

We’re ready to represent you at the negotiating table. Our goal is to secure a fair split of assets during negotiations, rather than leave the final decision up to the judge. We’ll build a strong case proving why you deserve certain assets and push the other party to see our side. You deserve a fresh start with everything you can get, and we want to negotiate that for you.

Start Your Divorce with the Help of Coumanis & York

Wherever you are in the divorce process, it’s a good time to talk to the team at Coumanis & York and learn more about how we can help you. Ready to set up a meeting? Call us at 251-990-3083 or get in touch online.