Who gets half?

Question

It is often remarked that the ex-wife gets half when a man and woman divorce, except when the woman earns more (e.g. Britney Spears and Kevin Federline). This confuses me.

What is the general rule with regard to divorce - how do they decide who has to split what they own? Do both husband and wife split everything they own down the middle, or do the courts order the wealthier party to split what they own with the poorer party?

Steven .. dearie, did i say that i didnt understand what half was love? Bless you, you didnt understand the question ... lol.

Snow M, .. dearie, did i say that i didnt understand what half was love? Bless you, you didnt understand the question ... lol.

Thanks Leigh, its the hairstyle that best suits my personality!!

i am not getting divorced i am currently v.happily married, but it was just something i always wondered about. Thanks

Answer 1

It depends on the state you live in, as the have different rules.

The Spears thing was she didn't want to give him half and had a prenup to help make that happen. Otherwise he would have had a windfall of her money.

Half of all the assets during the course of the marriage. Since there is always a wealthier party (even if that is just salary), someone always comes out with more than they put in. Kind of like Communism, everything goes into the pot (during the marriage) and it's split from there.

Answer 2

It depends on which state you live in, and where you spend the majority of your marriage. Also, is there a prenuptial agreement in place? California is a community property state, which is a 50/50 split of what you owe and what you own. What was acquired during the marriage, and how was it paid for and by whom? Where there any children from this marriage? If so, how many, their ages and the time spent with each parent would determine what and how much support would be granted. After that, spousal support depends on who made more in the marriage, and how long have you both been married. If you have been married for less than 10 years, the spousal support would be for half of the length of time in which you were married. There is a lot of free information out there. I would suggest going to the web site for the state in which you live, and searching for that information there to get you a complete answer for this. Hope this helps!

Answer 3

I think, the specifics of the divorce laws vary state by state, but for the most part the stuff that was accumulated during the marriage is considered "community property", and this is what gets divided between parties. Also, if one spouse was dependent on the other for income, the court could order alimony to be paid to the dependent spouse for a certain duration of time after the divorce. I'm not very familiar with the specifics, in my divorce we had no problem dividing things up - I took what I thought I wanted, and he took what he thought he wanted; we didn't fight. So, luckily, I'm not intimately familiar with the community property laws.

Answer 4

As a general rule:

1. What you bring into the marriage is yours. So any family heirlooms or anything you owned prior to marriage is yours to keep.

2. What you earned and purchased during the marriage is owned jointly and jointly split.

Example: If you own a home with $10,000 equity in it, and one spouse wants to keep the house, that spouse must pay $5,000 (their half of the equity) to the other spouse.

Answer 5

Usually each party gets the stuff the acquired before marriage and all of the "maritial" assets are included in the 50/50 division. If an agreement can't be made as to who get what, it's sometimes ordered they the item(s) are sold and the money divided. or the judge will just decide who gets it.

Answer 6

The law keeps changing currently spuses male or female (its not gender bsed) get between 30%-50% recent cases white v white 2000 McFarlene and Miller are notable UK Law.

Brit and Kev settled out of court so different rules apply.

stay with her!

Answer 7

I think that whatever each person had before the marriage remains with that and then whatever was bought during the divorce, will be split.
Some people are smart and end up doing a pre- nup before getting married.

Now days, with all the divorces and this one using that one, MY ADVICE is to get a pre nup before you get married.

Answer 8

generally speaking in UK at least we do split down the middle after all debts paid off but in some cases one partner does not want to do this as the other already had house etc ,it,s usual when there is children involved for the wife or partner to remain in the house untill child is 18 but this is not fair if the lady has decided not to live with the guy any more,i was very willing to split down the middle with my ex wife as she bore and brought up our kids well for 23 years and we parted as friends ,she got straight back onto the property ladder,

Answer 9

I think the case with Britney Spears was, she made more money so it made her the provider. Usually it is the man that is the provider and that is why the woman gets half. It doesn't have anything to do with wealthy or poor. It has to do with, who brings home the bacon?

Answer 10

There is no general rule; the laws vary a lot by state of residence. Community property states lean toward the 1/2 theory.