children, an award of exclusive use and possession of the marital home until the youngest child reaches emancipation (18 or graduates from high school under most circumstances) is appropriate. That would permit the parent who spends the majority of the time with the children to remain in the marital home without having to sell it or buy out the other spouse’s interest. Rather, the house would only be sold and the proceeds divided after the youngest child graduates from high school.

Non-marital property is property that was acquired outside the marriage; either before the parties were married, by inheritance, or by exclusion from a pre-nuptial agreement. However, in order to remain non-marital property, such assets must not have been commingled with marital assets. Putting the stocks and bonds you inherited from your parents into an account with your spouse’s name on it and adding money you earned working into the account, and putting your spouse’s stock she got from her last job in that same account may render the entire account marital if the stocks are traded and tracing the source of the funds is difficult if not impossible. Putting your spouse’s name on the title of that pre-marital condo 5 years ago when things were good is considered an inter-spousal gift, and it’s no longer non-marital. As of October 1, 2008, all personal property put into both parties names as “tenants by the entireties” will be conclusively presumed to be an inter-spousal gift, just as has long been the case with real property. So a brokerage account that contained non-marital assets from an inheritance, put into both parties names as husband and wife, tenants by the entireties (which is the most common joint ownership for married couples), such an account will be considered marital property, and subject to equitable distribution.

The new Equitable Distribution Statute effective October 1, 2008 makes temporary, partial equitable distribution available for the first time under certain circumstances. This change makes it possible for clients to potentially gain access to funds during the pending divorce previously unavailable until after the case was finalized. It can also be used to protect a person’s rights to an asset by transferring it early on in the case to that person. While it is still often desirable to have a global settlement of all issues, and it is not always in a client’s best interests to distribute certain assets one piece at a time, it is still a positive development in the law, affording us even more tools to help you get the result that you need.