| Welcome
to website for the Williams Law Group, PC. This page focuses
on information related to marital asset division and debt.
With offices in Johnston County and Wake County, NC, our firm
provides full-service support to those who need help in Family
Law (including Divorce and Separation, Child Custody and
Support, Alimony, Adoption and Domestic Violence). We are
dedicated to protecting our clients’ rights and ensuring
that justice is served. Our legal professionals have one goal;
to provide competent and compassionate legal help to our
valued clients.
Divorce
and separation are fraught with traumatic and emotional
issues, without the added burden of financial conflict.
Property division is the justice system’s response to
financial issues in divorce, and it is an objective process
that distributes marital assets and debt fairly between a
husband and wife. Many divorcing spouses are able to work out
the financial and property issues through negotiation and
settlement arrangements. However, there may be personal and
valid reasons why couples are unable to amicably resolve the
division of their marital property. In these situations,
spouses may require intervention through North Carolina’s
“Equitable Distribution of Assets”. This process and
statute empowers the court to divide all marital property
(including real and personal property) and debts in a three
step process.
Marital
property is defined as all assets acquired during the marriage
and prior to the date of separation. All marital property is
subject to fair distribution between the marital partners.
However, rights to equitable distribution are not automatic,
so one or both spouses must specifically claim it prior to a
divorce judgment. The steps in the equitable distribution
process involve:
- Identification
of property as either marital or separate. Separate
property is owned prior to marriage, or is inherited
property or a gift. There are circumstances where an item
of property may receive a dual classification.
- Valuation
of property assigns a fair market value to each asset.
- Distribution
is the act of fairly dividing marital property between the
parties (unless there are facts to demonstrate that
equitable distribution would be unjust).
The court considers several factors in making their
determination of equitable distribution of assets. These
factors include income, debt, property of each spouse; prior
marital support obligations; duration of the marriage, age
and health of each partner, needs of the custodial parent to
maintain the martial residence, contributions of one spouse
to the education of another, and retirement and pensions. To
protect assets until the equitable distribution is made, the
court may enter an injunction to prohibit the transfer,
depletion or hiding of assets. This tool may be helpful if
you are involved in a situation where the other party is
depleting bank or stock accounts.
It is important to have full disclosure of each spouse’s
assets in resolving the issue of property division. Couples
in the throes of divorce or separation are often unprepared
to objectively consider settlement offers, counter offers
and other complexities associated with different types of
investments. Traumatized or confused spouses may agree to
divide their property and are divorced without ever
understanding what they’ve sacrificed. Other partners
accept financial terms to hasten the divorce and then find
themselves in financial crisis at a later date. Therefore,
it is important to have the help of an attorney who
understands the importance of a comprehensive financial
picture to their client’s future. An experienced lawyer
will search for any hidden assets, as well as determine the
"real" value of the marital estate and business
investments.A skilled Family Law attorney can help you
protect yourself and your future by investigating
information such as bank accounts, stock options, deferred
compensation plans, real estate, brokerage accounts, foreign
accounts, offshore trusts and deferred tax planning devices
that can be difficult to sort out and assess. If you and
your spouse are in litigation over equitable distribution of
your marital property, your attorney has the ability to “discover”
your spouse's assets by filing the appropriate motion.
Perhaps you believe that your spouse may be transferring
joint assets out of your name, or hiding assets. Or your
spouse may have hired their own attorney. In these
situations, it is especially important to seek legal
counsel.
The Williams Law Group, PC recognizes that having a
comprehensive picture of your marital finances is not only
crucial to negotiating your best possible financial terms
and standard of living - it is critical to your future. Let
us help you with our legal advice and commitment to
protecting your rights first. Please contact us today at
(919)773-1440 or via email at:
info@NCDivorcelaw.com.
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