For these reasons, we highly recommend that any proposed agreement regarding division of community assets and debts be reviewed by a competent family law attorney.  The expression “an ounce of prevention is worth of pound of cure” applies here.  The identification, characterization (whether an asset is community property or separate property), valuation and fair division of marital property is often trickier than it seems, and the cost of a consultation or review will be negligible compared to the potential cost of a mistake of law and fact that becomes embedded in a signed agreement.

While parties may make any settlement of the marital estate that seems fair to them, under California law each party is entitled to receive an equal share (by value) of the community property accumulated during marriage.  “Community property” includes virtually anything of value acquired by dint of the earnings or efforts of the parties while married, such as real estate, personal property, vehicles, bank accounts or other investments, retirement benefits, business interests, royalty payments, and stock options, to name just a few.  Assets owned prior to marriage or acquired during the marriage by gift or inheritance (i.e. not through earnings or efforts) are considered the separate property of the owner and not subject to equal division on divorce.  It may be that some assets are a combination of community property and separate property. For example, retirement benefits or stock options may have been acquired by a combination of community (during marriage) and separate (before marriage or after separation) efforts.  As another example, a home or a car may have been acquired with a combination of community and separate funds.  Because life is complicated, the law has developed many rules and exceptions to the rules in an attempt to fairly deal with a variety of commonly recurring situations which affect the valuation and distribution of marital assets.

Mr. Weiler and Mr. Borst specialize in helping their clients through these rules and assisting in the negotiation of agreements that are fair to BOTH parties. And where one side is less powerful or does not have access to the necessary information about community assets or obligations, our attorneys will ensure full discovery and disclosure of relevant facts, and will aggressively pursue on behalf of the client an appropriate division of the estate.