Since we have been married we have aquired a nice home, a lake cabin,very nice boat.his family owns a restaurant where I have worked 11 yrs as a waitress, we have never shared a bank account of any kind,he gives me no money,I pay part of car onto and my own bills including taking care of my son going thru college.I told him 10 days ago I wanted divorce and I was moving out over the weekend,he said ok and left for the lake cabin. He doesn't think he should give me any kind of money, just take my part of inside the house. We bought our cabin 7yrs ago and tore it down to studs and remodeled the whole thing, he and I did all the work on it.we paid 20k for it, now its prob worth 100k with all of our work, should I get an attny and take him to court???
I would think so. Unless you had a prenuptial agreement saying otherwise, your marital estate includes all property that was acquired during your marriage (before you separated) as a result of the industry and effort of either party. It does not include property you owned before the marriage that you have kept separate and not commingled with marital property. It does not matter in whose name a title is held, if the property was acquired during the marriage with marital funds. So,it does not matter that you had separate bank accounts. If you deposited current earnings as received in the bank account, then the bank account is marital property. In fact, if there was money in the account before marriage, by commingling it with current earnings, it lost its status as separate property. You didn't say where the 20k came from to purchase the cabin or how it is titled. If he paid the $20k from separate funds, and titled it in his own name, it is his separate property. However, the increase in value due to your industry and effort during the marriage is marital property. In other words, he may be awarded the property itself, but you are entitled to compensated for that increase in value. If you used pooled funds to acquire it, or jointly titled it, then it is simply marital property
The Court will be required to make a fair and equitable division of the marital property. That is not always the same as an equal division, but most judges start from the premise that equal is what is equitable unless someone can prove otherwise. For example if one party is frugal and the other runs up credit cards at the casinos and purchasing himself toys or gifts for a girlfriend or other frivolous items, the division might be disportionate in favor of the frugal spouse.
Consumers can use this platform to pose legal questions to real lawyers and receive free insights.
Participating legal professionals get the opportunity to speak directly with people who may need their services, as well as enhance their standing in the Lawyers.com community.