Family law covers many issues, including property division. Before initiating divorce or separation proceedings in your state, it is vitally important to understand how state laws regulate this matter.
Understanding how inherited property issues can be resolved is especially essential for individuals who inherited together, such as inheritors who shared ownership. In this article, heirs will learn how to force the sale of jointly-inherited land.
Determine Marital or Separate Property
Separate property typically refers to items you owned prior to marriage or received as gifts or inheritance, including financial compensation from injuries sustained during the marriage.
Marital property refers to any asset acquired during your marriage regardless of who paid for or owned it; it also encompasses any increases in value that resulted from contributions and efforts of non-owning spouse.
Noting that New York judges do not always view marital property in equal amounts is of crucial importance; prenuptial agreements may differ. Furthermore, separate assets may become marital through commingling; this occurs when one spouse who owned them before marriage deposits money into it or uses it differently such as adding another name to its account.
Negotiate with Your Spouse
Divorce cases can often become contentious and emotional, especially when spouses disagree on property division. When this occurs, legal assistance may be needed in reaching an amicable property settlement agreement that meets both your and their needs.
Before beginning this process, it is crucial that all assets be listed. This should include everything from real estate and vehicles to investment accounts, retirement savings accounts, bank accounts and personal belongings. You also must know their values; hiding assets from a judge is illegal – be truthful with them all when providing information.
Judges consider each partner’s contributions to the marriage and financial success of the family when making a determination on fair property division. While many states use equitable distribution rules, an equal split doesn’t always occur – fighting over property division increases anxiety levels while increasing legal fees associated with divorce proceedings.
Leave the Decision Up to a Judge
If you and your spouse cannot agree on how to divide property in a divorce or separation, family court may become involved. Here, a judge will follow state-specific property division laws; most use equitable distribution rules where assets and debts of the couple will be distributed equally between themselves; this may not always mean an equal split across real estate, bank accounts, investments and retirement savings.
New York, being an equitable distribution state, requires judges to take several factors into consideration when making this determination, such as waste and dissipation (such as money spent on addiction), duration of marriage, age and health of both spouses involved and contributions made towards acquiring the property in question by each spouse. They will also evaluate each asset separately to establish whether its ownership falls under separate or marital ownership.
Divide the Family Home
When purchasing your home during marriage, it will be considered marital property and subject to equitable division in a divorce. Any pension plans or retirement accounts purchased during this period would also fall into this category; however, if an inherited family home existed prior to marrying or children had with deceased parent before you married it could qualify as separate property.
Inherited property splits may lead to tension among siblings, particularly if one or more are looking to sell while the others prefer keeping it within the family. Under such circumstances, physical division may not be feasible.
An attorney can assist in helping you to explore all of the available options for dividing inherited property. They can review all inheritance documents to understand what requirements there may be from wills, trusts or state law; additionally they may assist with filing a partition lawsuit to force sale of qualifying inherited assets that qualify as heirs’ property.
