Michigan Property/Asset Division - DV Charges

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If you're charged with domestic violence in Michigan, and your spouse had filed for divorce, you're worried about the status of your property and assets.  In Michigan, the division of marital property follows the rule of "equitable distribution".  This does not mean that the property needs to be 50/50 in a Michigan divorce, but there is a presumption that the property will be fair and divided in an appropriate fashion with equity in mind.  
A court may depart from this presumption in a Michigan divorce property settlement, but must explain the reasons on the record.  In Michigan, separate property involves assets that a party owned before the marriage, any gifts or inheritances, assets received after separation or filing, or assets or appreciation traceable to these items.  This would include things like owning a car before the marriage, or inheriting money from a family member while married.

Generally in Michigan divorces, the above property will be awarded to the individual party unless the non-owner spouse can prove that they contributed to its acquisition improvement or accumulation or that absent a division of the separate property, the marital property would be insufficient for their suitable support in a Michigan divorce.

This means that if one spouse brings property into a marriage, and the other spouse does something to improve it's value, they will be entitled to a share of that property in Michigan.  If the assets owned as part of the marriage are not enough to provide suitable support to the other spouse, a Michigan court could make the owner share some of their "separate property".

In Michigan divorce cases, the non-owner spouse can contribute to the value of the separate property either directly (a wife contributing to the improvement of her husband's separate property) or indirectly as a wife contributing as a homemaker, which allowed the husband to grow the value of his business.  Under both circumstances, the wife might be entitled to a portion of this "separate property" as part of a Michigan divorce.

The court may also consider other factors that may be relevant to the division of marital property in Michigan.What is considered marital property in a Michigan divorce?In Michigan marital property begins at the wedding and continues until the judgment of divorce, regardless of when the parties cohabited or separated.  If property is received after the judgment, but earned during the marriage, it will be considered marital property in Michigan.  

The value of marital property in a Michigan divorce can be difficult to determine due to the accumulation, appreciation and depreciation of property.  A Michigan divorce court will use a date of valuation that is supposed to encourage rational economic behavior. The goal of the court is for the value to remain high, without either party having an incentive to affect the value.  ​

​In Michigan courts will use a number of factors for dividing the marital property.  The court will look at the length of the marriage, the needs of the parties, the needs of the children, the earning power of the parties, the source of of the property, where the contributions toward property acquisitions came from, and the cause of the divorce, including the issue of fault in the breakdown of the marriage. Although fault can play a role in the court's decision, it cannot be the sole reason, and cannot be used as a means to punish a party for their actions.

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