How Can I Keep My Non-Marital Property Safe?

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How Can I Keep My Non-Marital Property Safe?
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What is Non-Marital Property?
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• Non-Marital property is property that
• only you own

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• Non-Marital property is different from
• marital property,
• which both you and your spouse have a legal claim
  to

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• When you have Non-Marital property, you generally
  do not have to share or divide this property if
  you and your spouse divorce

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• Typically, property is considered Non-Marital if
  you come into the marriage owning it while
  property that you acquire during the marriage is
  joint property

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• Non-Marital property can refer to real estate
  (like investment properties) but also to money
  and other things of value

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Protecting Non-Marital Property with a
Pre-Marital Agreement
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• One of the best ways to protect Non-Marital
  property is with a
• pre-marital agreement

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• A pre-marital agreement is a contract entered
  into before marriage in which you and your spouse
  agree on what happens to property in the event of
  a divorce

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• If you have money, property or assets that you
  wish to protect, a prenuptial or pre-marital
  agreement is generally going to provide the most
  protection as you can make very clear that you
  would keep all of these assets in the event that
  the marriage ends

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Protecting Non-Marital Property with a
Post-Marital Agreement
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• If you are already married and have no prenuptial
  agreement,
• you can still enter into a contract with your
  spouse to protect your Non-Marital property

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• A post-marital agreement is very similar to a
  pre-marital agreement and serves the same
  function of setting the rules for who gets what
  in a divorce

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• However, it is created after you have already
  gotten married as opposed to before the wedding

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Keeping Your Property Non-Marital and Avoiding
Mingling With Marital Assets
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• If you have no contractual agreement but you
  entered the marriage with separate property,
• you can still keep that property separate and
  protect it in case you get divorced

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• You will need to ensure that you keep the
  Non-Marital property entirely isolated and
  distinct from your marital assets

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• Once you have mingled your Non-Marital property
  with the property of your spouse and with any
  marital property, it becomes much more difficult
  for you to protect what is yours

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Inheritance During the Marriage
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• While most Non-Marital property is money or
  assets you have prior to the marriage,
• money that is inherited can also be considered
  yours alone

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• To keep your inheritance protected, be sure that
  the person who leaves the money or assets to you
  specifies that the assets are being left to you
  alone

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• Keep the inheritance money and other items
  Non-Marital from marital property

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Proving Your Property Belongs to You
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• If you wish to protect Non-Marital property
  during a litigated divorce, you may need to prove
  that the property actually should be considered
  yours, rather than the marital units

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• The more isolated you have kept the property from
  family funds and the more records you have to
  show that the property was owned by you prior to
  marriage (or inherited by you), the better the
  chance of proving that the property actually is
  yours and yours alone

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An Out-of-Court divorce Settlement Can Offer More
Control
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• If you dont want to trust the court to make the
  right choice on Non-Marital property, you may be
  able to negotiate your divorce settlement
  agreement outside of court with your spouse

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• Your spouse may agree to allow you to just keep
  your Non-Marital property since he or she has no
  claim to it

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• If an agreement is reached, this can be faster,
  less costly and less public than litigating how
  assets are supposed to be divided

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Protecting Property During a Litigated Divorce
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• If you and your spouse cannot agree on an
  out-of-court settlement, the judge will make a
  decision on property division

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• It is important to have an experienced attorney
  representing you in these cases as you will need
  help presenting evidence and convincing the judge
  to give you full rights to the Non-Marital
  property that your spouse has no claim to

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Learn More About Keeping Your Non-Marital
Property Safe
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