One of the most trying parts of divorce has to do with the divvying up of your marital assets. When more money is involved, asset division proceedings tend become more stressful and more complicated. One of the most important issues relating to marital property division is the definition of marital property itself. These definitions can vary from state to state, so let’s take a look the way Tennessee law addresses this issue.
In T.C.A. Section 36-4-121, Tennessee law defines marital property as follows:
— All personal and real property, intangible and tangible, that is acquired by the spouses during their marriage, from the date of marriage to the filing of the divorce pleading. However, marital property will not consider fraudulent transactions made by either of the spouses in anticipation of the divorce filing. Marital property will be valued as closely as possible to the entry date of the final marital property division order.
— Marital property relates to any income from and any value increase of property during the marriage. It also relates to income earned by the spouses during the course of the marriage and income on pensions, stocks, unvested stock option rights and retirement and other benefits.
— Marital property includes personal injury recoveries, and money obtained as a result of workers’ compensation and social security claims and other legal actions.
There can be a lot of differing opinions about how marital property should be divided in a divorce. Also opinions will differ about what shall be considered marital property and what is not. As such, Tennessee residents in the throes of heated property division proceedings may want to retain the assistance of an experienced divorce law firm, such as the Law Office of Steven C. Girsky, to help protect their rights.