In a divorce, assets get divided only one of two ways. Either you and your spouse reach an agreement on how to divide all of the debts and property, or, the two of you have to go to trial and let the court divide the debts and property the way it sees fit. The court in dividing the property has to first classify all of the debts and property as to either your separate debts and property, your spouse's separate debts and property, or community debts and property. Whether the house will be separate or community property will depend on the exact wording of your husband's father's will. It is most likely your husband's separate property, but that is not guaranteed. When the court divides the property it has to divide it in a way that seems fair and equitable to the court. The court can mix and match your separate property , his separate property and community property. In addition, the court is supposed to consider things like the ages of the parties, the health of the parties, educational background, work history, and several other factors. So, there is no fixed formula for dividing the property. In terms of child support, it is determined by using the number and ages of the children and each of the parties' incomes, plus, at times, certain other data. This information goes into a formula and a chart. From the formula and chart comes the child support number. In general, your rent is not part of that calculation.
Answered on Jul 20th, 2011 at 1:19 PM