Division of Assets & Debts in San Diego California

As part of a San Diego divorce action, usually the court will decide how to divide your property and debts, both real property, like your house, and personal property, like your cars and furniture, and all the outstanding debts. California is known as a "community property” state. What that means is that property acquired and debts incurred during marriage is presumed to be community property and debt.

Aside from matters regarding children, division of assets is often the issue that creates the most fervent disputes during divorce proceedings. During marriage, a couple’s finances become greatly intertwined with one another, so separating them can be extremely frustrating and time consuming. Splitting finances, property, assets, and debts is a process which must be mediated by an outside entity, such as San Diego family law courts & judges.

The first step in San Diego property division is determining what community property is and what constitutes separate property. Separate property can include gifts, inheritance, personal injury settlements, pensions acquired before marriage and a separate property or business in one’s name. Although, separate property can sometimes become mixed with community property, and that almost always complicates an already complex situation.
Often, the most common types of community property that become issues during divorce include family homes, pensions acquired during the course of the marriage, family businesses, and any jointly owned property that cannot be clearly identified as separate.

These properties often take quite a bit of time to process and if they are not distributed equally, the court can sometimes mandate that they be sold in order to compensate for the inequity of asset distribution. It's equally important that all the outstanding debts belonging to both you and your spouse or to both of you jointly are divided as well, both secured and unsecured. This is community debt, which means that you are liable for and will be awarded ½ of the debt (or the equivalent) in the distribution of the community estate.

If you and your spouse can agree on how to divide your property, each representing San Diego divorce attorney will write up a formal agreement called a “Marital Settlement Agreement.” Detailed lists of who gets what will be included in this agreement. The issues of child custody and visitation, child support and spousal support, division of community debts and other related issues also are generally included in the agreement.Read the Marital Settlement Agreement carefully, and ask your San Diego divorce lawyer about anything you don't understand. Once you've signed the agreement and it's been approved by the court, it will be extremely difficult and expensive to try and change it.

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