How will the marital property be distributed?
All property acquired by the parties during their marriage is subject to “equitable distribution.” The purpose of equitable distribution is to achieve a fair distribution of what the parties acquired during their marriage. “Equitable” does not necessarily mean that the property will be divided one-half to each of the parties. The theory is based upon marriage as a partnership so that even if one party (usually the husband) technically acquired all of the assets through earned income, while the wife was at home and not working outside the home, the Court would still recognize that the marriage was, in fact, a partnership and but for the fact that the wife was at home keeping the household for the family, he would not have had the opportunity to earn the income for this marital partnership. Thus, the identity of the person who actually earned the money is immaterial and unless the parties can agree, the Court would distribute all property in a manner that it deems “equitable.
A. All property acquired by the parties during their marriage is subject to “equitable distribution.” The purpose of equitable distribution is to achieve a fair distribution of what the parties acquired during their marriage. “Equitable” does not necessarily mean that the property will be divided one-half to each of the parties. New Jersey is not a so-called “community property” State, where this would necessarily be the case. In New Jersey, there is no initial presumption in favor of an equal division. The theory is based upon viewing the marriage as a partnership or joint enterprise, so that even if one party technically acquired all of the assets through earned income, while the other was at home and not working outside the home, the Court would still recognize that the marriage was, in fact, a partnership and that, but for the fact that the unemployed spouse was at home keeping the household for the family, the employed spouse would not have had the opportunity to earn the income f
All property acquired by the parties during their marriage is subject to “equitable distribution.” The purpose of equitable distribution is to achieve a fair distribution of what the parties acquired during their marriage. “Equitable” does not necessarily mean that the property will be divided one-half to each of the parties. New Jersey is not a so-called “community property” State, where this would necessarily be the case. In New Jersey, there is no initial presumption in favor of an equal division. The theory is based upon viewing the marriage as a partnership or joint enterprise, so that even if one party technically acquired all of the assets through earned income, while the other was at home and not working outside the home, the Court would still recognize that the marriage was, in fact, a partnership and that, but for the fact that the unemployed spouse was at home keeping the household for the family, the employed spouse would not have had the opportunity to earn the income for
All property acquired by the parties during their marriage is subject to “equitable distribution.” The purpose of equitable distribution is to achieve a fair distribution of what the parties acquired during their marriage. “Equitable” does not necessarily mean that the property will be divided one-half to each of the parties. New Jersey is not a so-called “community property” State, where this would necessarily be the case. In New Jersey there is no initial presumption in favor of an equal division. The theory is based upon viewing the marriage as a partnership or joint enterprise, so that even if one party technically acquired all of the assets through earned income, while the other was at home and not working outside the home, the court would still recognize that the marriage was, in fact, a partnership and that, but for the fact that the unemployed spouse was at home keeping the household for the family, the employed spouse would not have had the opportunity to earn the income for t
