Arizona law uses a system called community property. This means that all property obtained during the course of the marriage is now owned by both spouses, unless it was a specific gift or inheritance to one of them.
Phoenix, AZ – The most complex and time consuming aspect of any divorce is usually the property division phase. This is because the spouses will have to account for their sources of income, investments, personal and real property, and other items such as businesses. There is also the possibility that some of this property, such as a bank account or title to real property is listed jointly in the names of both spouses. Property division can take months or years if the couple was married for a long time or had significant assets.
Arizona law has special property division rules that apply to all of these situations.
Separate and community property laws
Arizona law uses a system called community property. This means that all property obtained during the course of the marriage is now owned by both spouses, unless it was a specific gift or inheritance to one of them. Items and property that are obtained after the marriage, or before the couple was married will be treated as separate. Even debt that was undertaken during the course of the marriage will be considered community property of both spouses, and there will be an obligation put on both spouses to pay it off after their divorce. These rules tend to make jointly held property and community property similar from a legal standpoint.
Joint property and division
The Arizona statutes treat community and jointly held property the same during a divorce. This means that either community or joint property needs to be divided in a similar manner.
Cases from appellate courts in Arizona have affirmed a divorce court’s obligation to make sure that jointly held property is divided during the divorce proceedings. This means that a couple is not likely to be able to keep anything titled jointly in both of their names, unless there is a rare exception such as an agreement to do so in their divorce settlement. Family courts are also restricted from forcing a couple to own property jointly, such as a marital home, even if the judge believes it is in the best interests of the child to do so. In practice, most divorce lawyers would advise against joint ownership of any kind of property interest after a couple has already separated. However, each spouse should retain their own lawyer and ask any specific questions they have about their personal and real property during a divorce.
Divorce lawyers in Arizona
Schneider and Onofry is a family law practice that helps people in the Phoenix area with issues related to divorce, child support, custody hearings, alimony payments, and other problems. Their attorneys can provide specific advice to anyone who contacts the firm.
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