When people in New Jersey marry they legally begin sharing their lives. This includes sharing their finances and assets. In many situations it does not matter whether one spouse earns all the money or if certain assets are titled in the name of only one spouse. Those assets are deemed marital regardless and both spouses have an ownership interest in the assets and earnings of the other spouse.
This is not terribly important during the marriage, but it does become an issue if the couple goes through a divorce. During a divorce the couple must go through the process of dividing that shared life into two separate lives. This means that they must divide the martial property that they gained together. This can be a complicated process, especially when couples have a large number of assets, which may come in many different forms such as retirement accounts, investment accounts, properties, businesses, collectables and other assets.
In order to divide them, first the couple needs to know the marital value of the property. That usually means that they will have to use various experts to help them. So, a couple may need to use property appraisals, business appraisals, art appraisers and other appraisers. People may also have to use accountants who can trace non-marital portions of accounts that a spouse may have started prior to the marriage. Other experts may be needed to determine the cash flow and identify the resources a spouse will need to maintain the lifestyle they had during the marriage.
There are many divorces in New Jersey each year. Each one of these divorces are unique based on the circumstances of the marriage. Marriages that resulted in a high number of assets can create complications as simply determining the marital value of the property could require the use of experts. Once the values are known it is also important to know how they will divided and consulting with an experienced attorney could be beneficial.