Property Division
Some assets are separate property, including those things belonging to a person before he or she gets married, or received as a gift or inherited during the marriage. For the most part, everything else will be considered marital property, which is subject to division between the parties. Everything else is marital property, which needs to be divided.
Many people who have significant assets such as businesses are often concerned about how those assets will be treated. If one spouse owns and runs the business, he or she will probably get to keep it. However, keeping a business often comes at a hefty price. The business will typically have to be valued using one or more approaches: according to its market value, the value of its assets, or the value of its income stream. In a typical situation, the three approaches are blended to arrive at a ‘fair market value’ and the spouse keeping the business is required to ‘buy out’ the other spouse’s interest. in cash or other assets.
Alimony and Spousal Support
Tennessee has four kinds of alimony:
  • Alimony in futuro, which is traditional or permanent alimony. Alimony in futuro payments continue each month until they die or remarry.
  • Rehabilitative alimony, in which a spouse receives payments until they can become self sufficient.
  • Transitional alimony, which are payments designed to transition one spouse from being married to being single.
  • Alimony in solido, which is alimony designed to make property division more fair.
In Tennessee, alimony is primarily based on the need of the person receiving it, the ability of
the other person to pay it, the length of marriage, and the fault involved in the grounds for divorce.
While alimony is not granted in every divorce, one spouse can request monetary support on a temporary or permanent basis while a case is ongoing or after a case is concluded.  Alimony is typically determined by the following factors:
  • Each partner’s income and role during the marriage
  • Which partner has primary residential care of the children
  • Tangible and intangible property value during the marriage
  • A disadvantaged spouse’s education and job skills
  • The fault of partner in disrupting the marriage
  • The length of the marriage and the age of the parties
  • The physical and mental health of a spouse

Property division

There are many common misunderstandings in dividing property in a divorce.  Tennessee is an equitable distribution state—which does not necessarily mean an equal split.  Courts look at separate property, marital property, each partner’s contribution to the marital estate, and a variety of other factors.  It is important to have a seasoned attorney on your side to ensure you receive what is rightfully yours.

Divorce and Distribution of Property

Property division in a divorce does not just mean splitting real estate or furniture acquired during the marriage.  Marital property usually includes pension plans, cash values in insurance policies, increase in value of property owned by the other party prior to a marriage, business inventory and goodwill, and even business accounts receivables, income, or bonuses which are earned but payable in the future.

A separate property of a spouse is generally property owned before the marriage and brought into the marriage and property received as gifts or through inheritance.  I suggest my clients make detailed lists of property of both spouses, including separate property and marital property.  Where possible, it is advisable to make copies of pension and retirement statements, payroll records, bank statements, business records, current debts, etc., to be reviewed by me when discussing the equitable property division details of your case.