Property Division
One of the most important parts of a divorce is separating your lives by dividing your property. Property division can often create a lot of tension. Besides child custody matters, it is one area of divorce that typically takes a long time and a lot of negotiation. If you and your spouse cannot come to an agreement on your own, the court will step in and make the decisions for you.
According to the Institute of Continuing Legal Education, if the court decides on the property division aspects of your divorce, it will follow the concept of equitable distribution. Essentially, this means the court will divide assets in a way that it sees as fair. Do note that fair does not mean equal.
What fair means
Fair in this context generally means that you both end up with property of fairly equal value. In addition, it also means that the court will grant you property that it feels you should have based on your marriage and the actions and circumstances of the marriage.
The court also considers the children when dividing property. For example, if you will have the most parenting time and the children will spend most nights with you, then the court will probably award you the house.
Final decision
Equitable distribution also allows for the court to have the final say. This means it can basically make whatever decisions it wants as long as it can validate those decisions. So, the court could give your spouse far more property than it gives you as long as it can explain why it did so and offer valid reasoning.
