When thinking about marriage, love and the idea of being with someone else all the time may make your decision a more emotional one than a rational one. All too often, people approach divorce in the same way.
They become emotional instead of being strategic and focusing on what would be best in the long run. The more you understand the state laws that apply to divorce proceedings, the easier it will be for you to predict what your life will be like after the end of your marriage and to make better choices for your own future happiness.
What happens to your property in an Ohio divorce?
Judges have control over the final solution
If you litigate your property division matters, you will present the courts with information about your shared property and separate property so that the judge can make an informed decision. They will hear about the circumstances of your marriage and your personal financial situation.
They use that information to come to a fair solution regarding your shared property. Given that a judge has to interpret the circumstances and make decisions accordingly, it is very difficult to predict what will happen with specific assets in an Ohio divorce.
What a judge’s authority can do
The property that comprises your marital estate is vulnerable to the judge’s decision in your divorce proceedings. They might designate one spouse to receive certain assets.
They might order the sale of certain property so that the spouses can split the proceeds. In rare circumstances where there is a specific justification for doing so, spouses may sometimes even retain joint ownership of certain property.
A judge could give one spouse more marital assets and then also expect them to pay more of the marital debt. A judge could order the spouse who keeps the marital home to pay more than half of the equity to the other spouse to compensate them for their share of home equity and their marital share of their ex’s pension.
Since you can’t predict what a judge will do in a divorce, you may need to consider working with your ex if there are certain matters that are of the utmost importance to you in your divorce proceeding. If you have a small business or specific marital property that has significant emotional value for you, you can retain control over your financial future by working with your ex to divide that property.
Making the outcome of your divorce more predictable will likely help you feel comfortable moving on from an unsatisfying marriage.
