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The team at The Law Office of Young, Kuhl & Frick, LLC will work with you on all aspects of your divorce, including the division of property and assets. Our expert team has over five decades of combined legal experience and will assist you in determining marital property and separate property, how they’re valued, and how they’ll be divided.

What is Considered Marital Property?

Couples can accumulate a lot of assets and properties throughout a marriage. Besides a marital home, it can be a little confusing when determining what exactly is marital property.

With a few exceptions, marital property is anything obtained during the marriage. Regardless of who purchased what items during the marriage, marital assets are shared by both spouses, no matter who signed on the dotted line at the time of purchase. Below are a few examples of marital property:

• Money
• Vehicles
• Houses
• Pets acquired during the marriage
• Insurance
• Debts
• Furniture
• Some pension and retirement plans depending on when it was started and the duration of the marriage

Marital property ranges from everyday things like financial accounts to vehicles. If purchased or acquired during the marriage, it’s presumed that the property is a marital asset.

What is Considered Separate Property?

Both parties in a divorce case may worry about what property and assets they’ll be left with post-divorce. Generally, whatever was purchased before the marriage is considered separate property, not marital property. Any vehicles, properties, furniture, and jewelry, to name a few, will be considered separate property when dividing assets.

Besides items purchased before entering a marriage, Missouri Law will consider the following separate property:

• Pets acquired by one spouse before marriage
• Gifts received from a spouse during the marriage including jewelry
• Inheritances
• Items purchased with inheritance money will belong to the spouse who received it
• Anything in a prenuptial agreement or postnuptial agreement that the couple agreed would not be marital property
• Some pension and retirement plans depending on when it was started and the duration of the marriage

Every case is different, which is why hiring a family law attorney in Kansas City is crucial to help you understand every aspect of the divorce process, including what is considered separate and marital property.

How are Marital Assets Divided?

Missouri courts will divide marital assets in a way that is equitable and fair with careful consideration of several factors. The court generally aims to divide all marital property evenly so both spouses possess an even amount of marital equity following the divorce.

In most divorce cases, the spouses are the ones who decide how they want to divide shared property and assets. However, in contested divorce cases or divorce among the wealthy, the court may decide how to divide property and assets.