Division of Property

If you and/or your spouse own rental properties, you must determine how to divide them upon your divorce. The first matter to determine is whether the rental properties were owned by one spouse prior to the marriage, or if the spouses acquired them after they were married. If the properties are separate property, then they…

Probably the easiest way to divide up the marital home in a divorce is to sell the home and equitably divide the proceeds from the sale, particularly when neither you nor your spouse can afford to maintain it on your own. However, what if one spouse wishes to keep the marital home until a later…

When you are in the midst of a divorce, retirement plans may be the last thing on your mind. However, retirement plans or pensions may be the largest assets that you and/or your spouse own, and they are often subject to division during a divorce as marital property. Due to the potential impact on your…

All too often, individuals who are going or have gone through a divorce discover that they have failed to change a beneficiary designation on some sort of asset. In the worst case scenario, an individual passes away without having changed the designation, which causes a whole host of problems if the couple already has divorced.…

Pensions belonging to either spouse may constitute marital property under Georgia law, at least to the extent that the spouse contributed to the pension during the marriage, causing it to appreciate in value. This may be the case even if all or part of the pension is unvested. Typically, if the parties agree or the…

In the state of Georgia, property acquired by one spouse prior to the marriage is normally classified as separate property, whereas property acquired during the marriage by either or both spouses is typically seen as marital property. While this seems like a straightforward classification for the equitable division of property in a Georgia divorce, the…

Uniform court rules in the state of Georgia require that all participants in a divorce case involving child support, alimony, or other financial issues complete a Domestic Relations Financial Affidavit (DRFA) and sign it under oath. You typically must fill out the DRFA completely and serve it upon your spouse within 15 days prior to…

Georgia is an equitable property division state, which means that in a divorce, the parties’ marital property should be divided between them in a fair and equitable manner.  An equitable division, however, does not always mean an equal division.  Georgia law treats debts in a similar manner; all marital debts are divided equitably between the…

All too often, spouses in high-asset divorce cases, fearing the worst in a prospective divorce judgement, attempt to conceal or hide assets in order to avoid paying the other spouse additional money or giving up other assets.  High-profile divorces in the media with record-setting monetary judgments also scare spouses into thinking that they will lose…

It is quite common for families to own a second home or vacation home, either in another part of Georgia or in a different state altogether. As a result, when the couple decides to divorce, they also must decide how to equitably divide the vacation home in their divorce. One simple solution is to sell the…