Divorce means many things: The end of a relationship, the beginning of a new life, the transformation of many relationships. It also usually requires the division of property and wealth, as very few divorces involve zero property or other assets.
Dividing these assets can be a complicated business, especially for long-term marriages where a lot of property or other assets have been accumulated in the peculiarly messy way marriages have. In the state of Colorado, the key word in the law is the term “equitable.” Colorado is not a community property state, so the division of assets Greeley, CO sees is “equitable” in nature – but what does this term really mean?
Not Equal
The first thing to understand is that the term “equitable” does not mean “equal.” This is a common mistake made by spouses seeking divorce; they assume it means they will get half of everything. The term “equitable” means something different to the courts, however: Fair. The courts make an attempt to come up with a “fair” division of assets that may or may not resemble and equal division depending on the findings of the court.
What is Fair?
Using this metric, the division of assets Greeley, CO will be determined by the court using a series of calculations including
- the contributions of each spouse in terms of income or other means
- the value assigned to individual pieces of property
- The future value of an asset, especially in terms of possible income generated by it.
A rule of thumb for a “back of the envelope” calculation is to calculate the percentage of a spouse’s contribution to the marriage and apply it to all assets – 30% of the income would be due 30% of each asset.