Property division during a divorce might seem fairly straight forward at first, since California is a Community Property state. Unfortunately, in practice, dividing up the assets and liabilities that were accrued during a marriage is very complicated. The reason for this is that decisions have to be made during the divorce process, that can financially affect individuals for years to come. This is why having a team that can help you with the property division process is extremely important.
At the beginning of the divorce process, each party is required to disclose all the information about their assets and debts. Sometimes, divorcing couples are not always honest about their assets and liabilities. Typically, one party will purposely fail to disclose information about their assets that could be used to increase the other spouse’s divorce settlement. These are some of the common ways in which assets are either hidden or commonly misrepresented:
- Assets get moved or parked in off-shore accounts
- Misrepresenting income or expenses
- Undervaluing assets
- Hiding assets
- Exaggerating debt
There are instances where one spouse fails to disclose an asset, and breaches their fiduciary responsibility to the other spouse’s disadvantage, the victim might be eligible to receive the entire interest in an asset that might have otherwise been divided equally. This is why our property division team, works with a team of accountants and other financial experts to ensure that all the valuations are accurate and to find any community property that has not been disclosed, so you can get receive what is rightfully yours.
Achieving an Equitable Property Division Settlement
In working to get you an equitable property division settlement, we will systematically evaluate the origins, valuations and commingling of the properties involved. In achieving a fair property division settlement, there are five key areas of inquiry:
- Identifying what is separate and what is marital property.
- Valuing financial assets, debts, real property and possessions.
- Tracing how separate property might have been transformed into community property.
- Assisting with fairness issues and considerations regarding the division of property to ensure an equitable split.
- Helping you minimize taxes.