Frequently Asked Questions on Legal Issues
Areas of Practice
- 3rd Party Custody
- Adoption
- Appeals
- Business Formation
- Business Litigation
- Business Succession Planning
- Child Custody/Support/Visitation
- Collections
- Construction Law
- Creditor Rights
- Divorce (dissolution of marriage)
- Elder Law
- Estate Recovery
- Qualification for Financial Assistance
- Spend-down Consultations
- Estate Planning
- Estate Administration
- Estate Tax
- Foreclosures (Creditor)
- GAL - Custody
- GAL - Probate
- General Civil Litigation
- Guardianships, Adult & Minor
- Health Care Directives (Living Will)
- Juvenile Law
- Land Disputes
- Legal Separation
- Paternity
- Power of Attorney
- Probate
- Deceased Estate Administration
- Incompetent Estate Administration
- Minor Estate Administratin
- Property Division
- Mediation
- Mechanic's Liens
- Modification
- Real Estate Law
- Trust Administration
Questions About Property and Debt Division
- If Missouri is a no-fault state, does that mean the property division will always be 50/50?
- Not necessarily. Missouri is known as an equitable division state. Even though Missouri does not require fault to get a divorce, it does allow the conduct of each party to be taken into consideration in the division of property. That being said, Missouri Courts will generally work toward a relatively even division of the marital estate unless there has been behavior by one of the spouses that has created a burden on the other spouse.
- Will I have to give him half of the equity in our house?
Will I have to give her half of my pension?
Will I have to pay half of his/her credit cards?
- There is a common myth that each asset and each debt is divided evenly. When you are dividing property and debts, you don’t look at each individual piece of property and each debt; you look at the marital estate as a whole. This is like filling out a Financial Statement for a bank loan. You list everything you own and how much it is worth and then you list all of your debts and how much is owed. The difference between these two numbers is the net marital estate. The property and debt are divided to try to make sure each party gets approximately the same portion of the net marital estate.
Assets |
|
Wife |
Husband |
| House |
$200,000 |
|
| Retirement |
|
$50,000 |
| Car #1 |
$15,000 |
|
| Car #2 |
|
$10,000 |
| Checking Account |
$5,000 |
|
| Savings Account |
$20,000 |
|
| TOTAL ASSETS |
$240,000 |
$60,000 |
Debts |
|
Wife |
Husband |
| Mortgage |
$160,000 |
|
| Auto Loan |
|
$5,000 |
| Auto Loan |
$10,000 |
|
| Credit Card |
|
$10,000 |
| Credit Card |
$5,000 |
|
| TOTAL ASSETS |
$175,000 |
$15,000 |
Recap |
|
Wife |
Husband |
| Assets |
$240,000 |
$60,000 |
| Minus Debt |
$175,000 |
$15,000 |
| TOTAL ASSETS |
$ 65,000 |
$ 45,000 |
In this case, the Wife is receiving $20,000 more than the Husband. If the goal is a 50/50 division, then the Wife would have to either give Husband $10,000 from her assets, or, take over $10,000 worth of debt originally assigned to Husband..(back to top)
