Distribution of marital/separate property

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is concerning since the attorney advised 50/50 split in my scenario is unlikely.

They are right. Equity will end up being handled as (equity - Spouse 1s downpayment)/2. In DC it doesn’t matter that Spouse 1 made the mortgage payments as they were married. The advantage that Spouse 1 has is they will get their downpayment back.

Equitable distribution doesn’t mean 50/50 though…

In practice it takes to prove a serious financial malice by a spouse to take the “default” 50% away .

Now I’m curious as to what would constitute a serious financial malice, because that is a possibility…

Hiding assets during marriage (if found during discovery); spending money on a mistress (renting an apartment secretly from spouse) etc.

What about hiding debts?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is concerning since the attorney advised 50/50 split in my scenario is unlikely.

They are right. Equity will end up being handled as (equity - Spouse 1s downpayment)/2. In DC it doesn’t matter that Spouse 1 made the mortgage payments as they were married. The advantage that Spouse 1 has is they will get their downpayment back.

Equitable distribution doesn’t mean 50/50 though…

In practice it takes to prove a serious financial malice by a spouse to take the “default” 50% away .

Now I’m curious as to what would constitute a serious financial malice, because that is a possibility…

Hiding assets during marriage (if found during discovery); spending money on a mistress (renting an apartment secretly from spouse) etc.

What about hiding debts?

then the spouse who was financially hit because of this behavior can be awarded more marital assets to cover the debts

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There have already been discussions with the lawyer about this scenario, but even they said it really depends on the judge and how they decide to rule, so I was wondering if anyone would be willing to share their outcome? This is in DC.

The current home was purchased during the marriage with the proceeds from the sale of a home purchased prior to marriage by Spouse 1. The mortgage and title were only in Spouse 1's name, and all payments were made from Spouse 1's personal banking account. Where it gets tricky is that Spouse 2 did occasionally transfer money into Spouse 1's banking account, although it was not a significant amount of money. Spouse 2 also had their own separate banking account during the marriage, and no joint accounts existed.

Any chance of the house being ruled as Spouse 1's separate property? If it's ruled marital, what could be a likely "equitable distribution" of the house?

How long have you been married? Is their name on the deed?

6 years and no.

NP
I will say 6 years of the appreciation of the house divided in two that is what the spouse should get.
If the house appreciated 100k for the last 6 years the spouse should get 50k.
The house is clearly not joint asset in this case.