A large part of any divorce is dividing your marital property. You have to divide everything you own together. The best-case scenario is you and your spouse work together to reach an agreement about the division because if you cannot, then the court will do it for you.
Brides Magazine explains that when a judge divides your property, he or she does not care about feelings or claims but will conduct the division according to the law.
The law
In Georgia, the law states the court must make an equitable division of your marital property. Equitable does not mean equal. It is simply fair with fairness being up to the judge’s discretion.
Separate property
Your separate property is safe from division, but you must prove it is separate. Doing so requires showing the court that you owed the property prior to your marriage and there is no comingling of the property with marital assets. For example, if you had a car prior to the marriage, but you continued to make payments on that vehicle during your marriage, then it may be comingled property in the court’s eyes and subject to some division.
You should note that the property title has little to no bearing on ownership for the purposes of property division in a divorce. You cannot rely on something being solely your property just because your name is the only one on the title. The same is true for financial accounts.
Marital property
Marital property is generally anything you and your spouse obtained during your marriage. It may also include any asset you maintained during the marriage. It is possible for all your assets to be marital property and something the court will divide.
Knowing these things, you can easily see how it will be advantageous for you to try to work out a property settlement outside of the courtroom. It will give you a better chance of retaining the property you want.
