Legal Question in Family Law in Maryland

Re: accident disability vs marital property

This issue has come up a number of times and there is no clear cut answer. More often than not, the courts have held that such awards are not marital property and therefore not subject to distribution as part of a divorce. However, there have been cases where an award has been treated as marital property. For example, if the income from the award has generally been used by the married couple as a regular part of their income, the court is more likely to treat it just like earnings, which is always considered marital property to the extent it accumulates. I suggest you consult an attorney in your area and provide him or her with more details to obtain a more accurate assessment of where you stand with this issue.

Re: accident disability vs marital property

The answer depends on the terms of the award. If you are receiving workers' compensation, the part of an award which is compensation for loss of earnings or earning capacity during the marriage is marital property. Any other part of a disability award is not. If before the divorce is final you receive an award of damages for a personal injury in an accident which is not workers' comp, and a part of that award is specified to be compensation for lost wages for a period of time which is during the marriage, it will probably also be considered marital property. Any part which is compensation for a permanent injury, or is based on loss of future earnings, may not be marital property. Unfortunately the awards are not always broken down in a way which makes it easy to determine what is and what is not marital property.

The issue you are asking about is somewhat complicated. You really will need a lawyer to help you if you are planning to divorce and have any kind of complicated marital property issues.