Going through a divorce can be difficult. Having a basic understanding of how things are done can help to ease the stress of the divorce. One of the more contentious areas of the divorce involves property division. For couples that are unable to come to an agreement on their own, the court may need to get involved.
When the court is involved, state law dictates how the property is to be distributed. New Hampshire uses what is referred to as an equitable division approach when dividing property during a divorce. This means that the property gets divided in a manner that the court views as fair. This does not always translate to a 50/50 split.
When determining who gets what, courts take a variety of factors into consideration. Some examples include:
- The length of the marriage. The court will take the duration of the marriage into account when splitting property. This means the property of spouses in shorter marriages may be dealt with differently than the property of spouses in longer ones.
- Age, health and occupation of spouses. The health of each partner as well as the ability of each to find employment is also taken into account.
- Parenting considerations. If children spend time primarily with one parent, the ability of this parent to secure employment and whether or not it would be beneficial for this parent to remain within the family home.
- Actions leading up to the divorce. The court also looks into whether a partner took advantage of finances in the time leading up to the divorce.
- Assisting in career growth. The distribution can also be impacted if one spouse contributed to the other spouse’s career development at the expense of their own professional growth.
These are just a few of the many factors the court may take into consideration when making its determination. As a result, it is wise for those who are considering or who have recently filed for a divorce to seek the counsel of an experienced divorce lawyer.
