Legal Question in Family Law in Utah
Divorce
I am divorcing for the second time. My husband was $10,000 in debt with his brother. I paid this off. I put $30,000 into making our new home liveable. I paid all the closing costs and made all of the payments. We also built a student housing apartment. I was the only one to put any money into this investment. Because I am the only one to put in any money in these investments do we still divide everything 50/50? We have been married 2 years.
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Divorce
Not if you get a good attorney. It would appear that the money which you invested was pre-marital funds, and as such should remain your separate money. The 50-50 rule goes for property which was acquired during a marriage with joint funds.
Re: Divorce
To answer your question, I would need to know where the money came from that you used to pay off the debt, make the home improvements and build the apartment. If those funds came from your income earned during the marriage, then, in all likelihood, it would be considered marital property and would be divided equally. However, if you used premarital funds, you may be able to recoup that money at the time of the divorce. A complication can arise however when you use premarital, or separate property, to improve marital assets. The court can consider that you've co-mingled your funds in which event, it then loses its character as separate property and becomes marital property which is then divided equally at the time of the divorce.
Related Questions & Answers
Looking for something else?
10,200 active attorneys ready to answer your legal questions today.
Featured Attorneys
Earn additional revenue and grow your business.
