How are assets divided in Arizona?
November 10, 2014

In Arizona assets are divided equitably, which means fairly. In practice, this often means equally. But it does not have to be equally and we’ve won cases in which an unequal distribution was made. The assets that can be divided by a court are community property assets, which are assets that were acquired during the marriage (unless by gift or inheritance). This area of the law can be tricky, but the general rule is that, in the absence of a prenuptial agreement that says otherwise, if something was acquired during the marriage and it was purchased with funds earned by either spouse during the marriage, then that item/asset/property is community property and will be divided equitably (usually equally). It can get complicated though, when you have an asset that was purchased before marriage but then payments were made on it also during the marriage. It also can be complicated when premarital funds in an account are combined with funds earned during the marriage. This is why it is often advisable for people to obtain a prenuptial agreement because it usually eliminates the litigation over these kinds of issues.