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Division of Property

Hands with a Small House Do you have questions and concerns about your property and how it will be divided? Washington State divorce lawyers from our firm understand that you are concerned about your property, and will help answer all your questions regarding property division in a divorce.

Divorce law and Property Division

Under our state's law, all property acquired both before and during a divorce or separation must be disclosed and presented to the court. The court will then make a “fair and equitable distribution” of the property. This part of a divorce case often times will cause a great deal of stress and emotional discord between the parties.

Some property is considered community property and some is considered to be separate property. When dividing the party’s property, the court considers the nature of the property, ie. whether the property is separate property or community property.

There can be different interpretations of what the value of certain property is, as well as, who should actually get the property. It is important to have an accurate value of all the property (including businesses, investments, realty property and antiques) so that a fair and equitable distribution of that property can be more easily made.

What is Community Property? WA State Divorce law and Community Property

All property acquired during a marriage is presumed to be community property . In other word, jointly owned with equal entitlement to the property for each party. There are exceptions to this rule of course, such as property acquired prior to the marriage; property acquired through inheritance; and some property acquired through settlement of a civil law suit. Community property does include income earned during a marriage, houses and cars purchased during a marriage, as well as investments that were made during a marriage.

The Determination of What is Considered Community Property vs. What is not

Unfortunately, property that appears to be community property is not always as easily classified as such. Determination of community property versus separate property is not always as easy as it may seem. For example, property purchased during a marriage, but purchased with funds received from an inheritance, may be considered to be separate property. In situations such as this, the case may become more complex. Fortunately, our law firm is equipped with the knowledge and resources needed to help see you through this type of complexity. We will do every thing legally possible to ensure that your goals are met.

Our Washington State Divorce Lawyers are Experienced and can Help

It is important to carefully trace funds in circumstances where the determination of separate versus community property is in question. Our law firm has experience in dealing with these very complex issues and can help even in the most difficult of cases.

Client Reviews
★★★★★
Laurie has worked on my very challenging and contentious divorce and I could not have asked for a better family law attorney. She was able to handle all of the twists and turns of my case with ease. I highly recommend Laurie to anyone looking for an excellent, ethical and hard working counselor. Chandler
★★★★★
Laurie is an incredible divorce lawyer! She did an amazing job with my divorce, and it was a real dog fight the whole way. She is a true fighter. And you can tell that she really cares about her family law clients and the results that she achieves for them. John
★★★★★
My lawyer guided me through a very challenging time in my life when I was going through my divorce. She worked hard and explained every step of the way what was going on so I could understand the process. I was very happy with her work. Barbel