Can common law property be divided in divorce proceedings?
Can common law property be divided in divorce proceedings? Assistant at Ascent Law LLC Assistant at Ascent Law LLC When you're getting divorced, the division of property can be a tricky issue. While in most cases it's quite clear which items belong to each party, there are some things that don't fall into a distinct ownership category. One question that may arise is whether an item of property can be considered as "common law" property — that is, owned by both parties equally. This can be a difficult question to answer, because the laws vary from state to state and sometimes even within individual states. In some states, common law property will automatically be divided equally between the parties in divorce proceedings. In other states, it will only be subject to division if the parties can prove that they made significant contributions or investments towards the acquisition of the item in question. Some states don't consider common law property at all, and s...