Up 20. What is “Equitable Distribution”?
Most states employ “equitable distribution” in dividing marital (community) property as a result of the dissolution of marriage (divorce). Instead of a strict fifty-fifty split (in which each spouse receives exactly one-half of the marital or separate property), equitable distribution looks at the financial situation that each spouse will be in after the termination of the marriage. While equitable distribution is more flexible, it is harder to predict the actual outcome, since the various factors are subjectively weighed.