As an experienced New Jersey Divorce Attorney, when someone asks me what separate property means, it’s a legal definition. Separate property, the way I explain it, is it’s outside of the marital pot. Here’s the umbrella, and you look at equitable distribution that’s going to divide everything right in here. We know assets that are part of the marital pot, i.e., acquired after the date of marriage but prior to the date of the filing of the complaint for divorce. Those assets are marital property.
Separate property has a designation that means you don’t get it if you’re the spouse. For example, an inheritance. One of the spouses inherits a $10,000 old Rolex from Grandpa Joe who passed away. He didn’t even know who he was, and he’s in a different state, etc. That item, that watch itself, goes in a safe deposit box and it has a value of about $10,000. The spouse doesn’t get it, separate property outside of the marriage, not acquired during the term of the marriage, the term of the marriage being, of course, the marriage date and the filing of the complaint for divorce.
Are you going through a divorce and are unsure what separate property is? If so, contact the experienced New Jersey Divorce Attorney Christopher Leon Garibian.
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