FAQs - Family Law Software

FAQs

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Question: How can I handle the reimbursement (equalization) in a situation in which the wife has given separate property to the husband (or vice versa)?

Answer: Just specify that the separate property is given to the other party.

Then the situation is automatically reflected on the Marital Property Division screen.

Let us illustrate in a case that has only one asset.

It is a real estate property worth $500,000 (no mortgage, for simplicity), in which the wife has a $100,000 separate interest that she is giving to the husband.

1. Specify that the separate property is given to the other party.

On the "more info" screen, next to each asset, there will be a "more info" link, where you can specify separate property given to the other party. Here is an example from the Real Estate "more info" screen.

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And here is the screen that appears. In this case, we specify that $100,000 -- the wife's full separate property interest -- is being given to the husband.

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2. Go to the Equitable Distribution (Marital Property Division) screen.

When you go to the Equitable Distribution (Marital Property Division) screen, you will see that the husband is treated as having received $100,000 of marital property and the wife is treated as having given up $100,000 of marital property, as shown below:

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The situation is equalized by giving the wife extra -- in this case $300,000 of the $400,000 of Marital Equity.

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So just go ahead and use the Marital Property Division screen, and when you have equalized the distribution, the impact of the separate property given to the other spouse is automatically handled.