Divorce in Virginia - when can one spouse get more than half

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It depends.

[b]Marital Home

Did you buy it together after you were married with community assets? Equal split.
Did you buy it together after you were married with separate property assets (inheritance, pre-marital savings)? Skewed split.
Did one party own it prior to marriage and the other party moved in before or at the time of marriage? Skewed split.
Etc, etc...

The equity accrued from DOM to DOS is community property. Everything else is separate property. You may need to do a forensic tracing if there is a separate property component to the home (or other large marital asset like stocks or art collections).

Spousal Support Payments

Your lawyer will be able to run a calculation as to what the state guidelines are. This is a 10-20min process but it requires accurate financial disclosures from both parties. If you both make the same money then it's likely you could agree to both waive SS.

Child Custody & Support

Do you have kids? If so, you should insist on 50/50 custody and accept nothing less. This is something you will go to absolute scorched earth war over. As with SS, if you have 50/50 custody and your incomes are truly equal, there will likely be only a very small amount of support if any at all.

Pensions

You are each entitled to 50% of the other's pension from DOM to DOS. Make sure your lawyer gets this info and you know the value of both your pensions. You will have to have an attorney draft an order to divide these.

Personal Items[u]

Furniture, household items, cars, boats, etc... unless something was clearly owned prior to marriage, then just divide this all up and don't belabor the points.




XLNT responsive but you forgot to ask if OP has a prenup or postnup
Good luck and I hope it goes quickly for you.

[/b]

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Get a lawyer seriously

Have a lawyer

Can’t get a straight answer

Ha ha ha! The person you responded to is a lawyer. Him/Her and other lawyers will try to milk you out of your money for even the simplest advice. Have you noticed that every legal question in any forum has someone advising one to get a lawyer?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not Op, but about how much does a simple divorce (no kids) cost in Virginia? I know lawyers can run up all kinds of bills, but just trying to get a realistic idea of how much it costs? Thanks!

My friend got divorced basically for free in Virginia (Prince William County, in her case). She and her ex agreed on everything (no kids, no alimony), so they downloaded the divorce language agreement on the PWC website and notarized everything. The paid whatever the minimal filing fees were -- $100?