The Marital Estate – What is Included and How is it Divided?
The marital estate includes all property, assets, debts, and liabilities acquired by the parties during the course of the marriage. The marital estate does not include property acquired through a gift or inheritance. Similarly, the marital estate does not include property acquired by one spouse before the marriage. If the premarital property can be easily identified at the time of the divorce, it will not ordinarily be included as a part of the marital estate to be divided. For marital property, it does not matter how the property or debts are titled. For example, if one spouse has a retirement
