Roadmap: Division of Marital Estate

Judge Koch recently authored an opinion that provides an excellent roadmap of the process of dividing a marital estate. For example:

Dividing a marital estate necessarily begins with the classification of the parties' property as either separate or marital property.

After a trial court has classified the property as either marital or separate, it should place a reasonable value on each piece of property subject to division.

Once the parties' marital property has been classified and valued, the trial court'’s goal is to divide the marital property in an essentially equitable manner.

Dividing a marital estate is not a mechanical process but rather is guided by considering the factors in Tenn. Code Ann. § 36-4-121(c).

The opinion includes a good discussion of factors to be considered in dividing marital assets, including several accepted rules-of-thumb:

First, for example, it is commonplace for debts to follow the assets they purchased. Second, the courts are now generally inclined to award economically disadvantaged spouses a small portion of the marital debt in cases where there are few marital assets. Third, when a marital debt is owed to a party who is related to one of the spouses, the debt is frequently assigned to the spouse who is related to the creditor.