Legal Question in Family Law in New York

Re: divorce

Let us exercise some care in our use of terminology.

A house such as you describe - if the circumstances are exactly as you describe - *should* be, for all intents & purposes, recognized, characterized & dealt with as Your "non-marital" property & it ought not to be subject to equitable distribution.

However - - there are circumstances that might have "been at work" or "taken place" during the course of the marriage such as would lend support to an argument by the other spouse that the property should be treated as marital property.

For example: if the other spouse contributed significantly to the upkeep, maintainence, restoration, rehabilitation, "care & feeding" of the house, it is within the realm of possibility that an argument could be raised that by virtue of the quality and quantity of those "contributions", the other spouse had acquired 'something like' "sweat equity" {such an argument might be particularly 'feasible' _if_ the other spouse's contributions were Significantly Greater than what the "underlying owner's" were}.

Additionally - - depending on the "configuration" of the couple's finances, it is certainly not difficult to imagine a circumstance such that a house like you describe might end up having to be sold, in order to *otherwise* accomplish the imperatives of equitable distribution {but, you see, this 'wild card' possibility would still not be appropriately designated as a taking by virtue of it being marital property - altho', that is the kind of distinction without a difference that sometimes seems important, particularly if you're living in a tent}.

Regards, etc.,

J.M.Hayes

>>--> The foregoing amounts to musings and observations based on some years familiarity with the 'day-to-day' operation of the law with regard to the issues involved In The Most General sense; my remarks should not be thought of as "legal advice and counsel" in the formal sense of that phrase, since there is, in fact, no 'attorney / client' relationship existing between us. <-<<