In this video I will be discussing the topic of what happens if you place your spouse’s name on property that you own prior to marriage. To start, unless you do something to change this rule of law, or unless lump sum alimony is awarded, which is a separate video that I’ve done, property that you own prior to marriage remains your separate non-marital property, and will not be awarded to your spouse in a divorce.
In simpler terms, you owned it before marriage, you will continue to own it after marriage. Your spouse will have no interest in it. However, and it is a frequent occurrence, that after marriage a spouse – say the wife – will put her husband’s name on the title of the property that the wife owned prior to marriage. She will do so with good intentions, and think nothing of the legal consequences if the parties ever get a divorce and unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on which side of the issue you are on, there are indeed major legal repercussions to this act.
In general, no matter your intent, unless there is strong evidence that placing your spouse’s name on the title of the property was not meant as a gift, under Georgia law, your placing your spouse’s name on property you owned before marriage will be seen as gifting him or her the property. What this means is that you will lose your non-marital interest in the property, and the entirety of the property will suddenly become marital property, as if you never owned it before marriage. It works like this. Say husband owns a house prior to marriage that has $200,000 of equity in it.
Husband marries wife, and a few years into the marriage, husband puts wife on the title to the home, so they own the home jointly. Then, a few years later, the parties get a divorce. What is the effect of putting the wife’s name on that title? Well, if husband had not put his wife’s name on the title, at the time of the divorce, the $200,000 of equity would remain his premarital property, and wife would not be entitled to any of it, because it’s all husband’s premarital property. Nor would she be given any credit for any of the appreciation that may have accrued over the years on the property.
However, now, because he did put his wife on the title of the property, she is now entitled to 50% on the entire equity in the home, plus 50% of any appreciation on the home, and 50% of any mortgage pay down that occurred during the marriage. The long and short of it is do not place your spouse’s name on property that you owned prior to marriage without first consulting an attorney.
As to legal impact this might have on your rights to that property, if you do not intend a gift, if you intend to transfer to protect the home from creditors, a transfer of title to your spouse can be accomplished in a way that does not potentially gift your non-marital interest away. Each divorce is different, and the circumstances unique, and in each divorce there are traps like this that can be taken advantage of by a divorcing spouse. At Shaw Law Firm, we understand the nuances of family law very well, and we welcome your inquiries and telephone calls. Thank you.
In this video I will be discussing the topic of what happens if you place your spouse’s name on property that you own prior to marriage. To start, unless you do something to change this rule of law, or unless lump sum alimony is awarded, which is a separate video that I’ve done, property that you own prior to marriage remains your separate non-marital property, and will not be awarded to your spouse in a divorce.
In simpler terms, you owned it before marriage, you will continue to own it after marriage. Your spouse will have no interest in it. However, and it is a frequent occurrence, that after marriage a spouse – say the wife – will put her husband’s name on the title of the property that the wife owned prior to marriage. She will do so with good intentions, and think nothing of the legal consequences if the parties ever get a divorce and unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on which side of the issue you are on, there are indeed major legal repercussions to this act.
In general, no matter your intent, unless there is strong evidence that placing your spouse’s name on the title of the property was not meant as a gift, under Georgia law, your placing your spouse’s name on property you owned before marriage will be seen as gifting him or her the property. What this means is that you will lose your non-marital interest in the property, and the entirety of the property will suddenly become marital property, as if you never owned it before marriage. It works like this. Say husband owns a house prior to marriage that has $200,000 of equity in it.
Husband marries wife, and a few years into the marriage, husband puts wife on the title to the home, so they own the home jointly. Then, a few years later, the parties get a divorce. What is the effect of putting the wife’s name on that title? Well, if husband had not put his wife’s name on the title, at the time of the divorce, the $200,000 of equity would remain his premarital property, and wife would not be entitled to any of it, because it’s all husband’s premarital property. Nor would she be given any credit for any of the appreciation that may have accrued over the years on the property.
However, now, because he did put his wife on the title of the property, she is now entitled to 50% on the entire equity in the home, plus 50% of any appreciation on the home, and 50% of any mortgage pay down that occurred during the marriage. The long and short of it is do not place your spouse’s name on property that you owned prior to marriage without first consulting an attorney.
As to legal impact this might have on your rights to that property, if you do not intend a gift, if you intend to transfer to protect the home from creditors, a transfer of title to your spouse can be accomplished in a way that does not potentially gift your non-marital interest away. Each divorce is different, and the circumstances unique, and in each divorce there are traps like this that can be taken advantage of by a divorcing spouse. At Shaw Law Firm, we understand the nuances of family law very well, and we welcome your inquiries and telephone calls. Thank you.
Well, that depends. If you have an uncontested divorce in which all issues are settled, or if you have a case and were able to reach a settlement before the need to go to court, then you will not need to go to court except for maybe five minutes to take a routine final. But if there are contested issues in the divorce, yes, you will need to go to court.
You will testify, and other people may testify on your behalf. It just depends on the case. So you will need to expect to testify, but any good attorney will prep you for your testimony, and most of our clients do very well on the stand. The one thing to keep in mind is you need to tell the truth because not telling the truth can often be more harmful than telling the truth. But other than that, you will be prepped and prepared to testify.
By: Scott Shaw
Well, that depends. If you have an uncontested divorce in which all issues are settled, or if you have a case and were able to reach a settlement before the need to go to court, then you will not need to go to court except for maybe five minutes to take a routine final. But if there are contested issues in the divorce, yes, you will need to go to court.
You will testify, and other people may testify on your behalf. It just depends on the case. So you will need to expect to testify, but any good attorney will prep you for your testimony, and most of our clients do very well on the stand. The one thing to keep in mind is you need to tell the truth because not telling the truth can often be more harmful than telling the truth. But other than that, you will be prepped and prepared to testify.
By: Scott Shaw
In this video, I will be discussing the topic of international divorce, child custody, and passport issues. Family law issues frequently cross state and even international boundaries. We have handled cases involving the following countries: South Africa, Indonesia, India, Pakistan, Germany, Great Britain, Egypt, Saudia Arabia, Canada, China, Mexico, Peru, Russia, France, and probably a few other countries that I do not even recall. These cases create some very complex jurisdictional and international procedural questions.
Are foreign international divorces and custody orders enforceable in the United States even if there is no treaty with the country? To answer your question, in general, no matter which country you are from, as long as you reside in the state of Georgia for six months you can get a divorce in the state of Georgia. Your spouse does not have to consent to the divorce. Your spouse does not even have to come to the state of Georgia. With or without his or her cooperation you can get the divorce. And in most countries in the world the divorce will be legally binding on both of you.
There are sometimes special issues dealing with Muslim divorces being recognized in certain parts of the Middle East that we can discuss with you, but, in general, a divorce in the United States will be recognized abroad. Likewise, if your children have lived in the United States for at least six months and call Georgia home we can probably get a custody order in the state of Georgia that would be legally enforceable in most countries in the rest of the world. One common issue is whether or not a child may travel internationally after the case. The issue is twofold.
Will I be able to travel internationally with my child even if the other parent does not consent? Or two: Will I be able to prevent the other parent from taking the child out of the country without my consent?The court may not have the power to force a parent to cooperate with obtaining a passport, but the court does have the power to issue an order that allows one parent – without the consent of the other parent – to obtain a passport.
What this means from a practical perspective is you need to resolve any passport issues that may exist in your case with an appropriate court order. You cannot wait and rely on the other parent to cooperate with you after a child’s passport expires. International Family Law issues are becoming more and more common and it should not be so difficult to find a good lawyer to deal with these.
By: Scott Shaw
In this video, I will be discussing the topic of international divorce, child custody, and passport issues. Family law issues frequently cross state and even international boundaries. We have handled cases involving the following countries: South Africa, Indonesia, India, Pakistan, Germany, Great Britain, Egypt, Saudia Arabia, Canada, China, Mexico, Peru, Russia, France, and probably a few other countries that I do not even recall. These cases create some very complex jurisdictional and international procedural questions.
Are foreign international divorces and custody orders enforceable in the United States even if there is no treaty with the country? To answer your question, in general, no matter which country you are from, as long as you reside in the state of Georgia for six months you can get a divorce in the state of Georgia. Your spouse does not have to consent to the divorce. Your spouse does not even have to come to the state of Georgia. With or without his or her cooperation you can get the divorce. And in most countries in the world the divorce will be legally binding on both of you.
There are sometimes special issues dealing with Muslim divorces being recognized in certain parts of the Middle East that we can discuss with you, but, in general, a divorce in the United States will be recognized abroad. Likewise, if your children have lived in the United States for at least six months and call Georgia home we can probably get a custody order in the state of Georgia that would be legally enforceable in most countries in the rest of the world. One common issue is whether or not a child may travel internationally after the case. The issue is twofold.
Will I be able to travel internationally with my child even if the other parent does not consent? Or two: Will I be able to prevent the other parent from taking the child out of the country without my consent?The court may not have the power to force a parent to cooperate with obtaining a passport, but the court does have the power to issue an order that allows one parent – without the consent of the other parent – to obtain a passport.
What this means from a practical perspective is you need to resolve any passport issues that may exist in your case with an appropriate court order. You cannot wait and rely on the other parent to cooperate with you after a child’s passport expires. International Family Law issues are becoming more and more common and it should not be so difficult to find a good lawyer to deal with these.
By: Scott Shaw
Maybe the most common is what to do with the marital home and it’s not such an simple issue as one might think. Issues run the gamut. For example, what if one party wants to stay in the house, but the other party is the person whose name is on the mortgage? You don’t want to let that party stay in the house when they have no skin of the game. What if they don’t pay the mortgage? The other guy’s the one who’s going to be collected on and have their credit rating hurt. So, you need to address issues like that.
There’s also issues, how do you value the home? What if you want to sell the home? What’s the procedure to do it? You don’t want to happen what happened on one of the cases I had where previous counsel before me had agreed they’ll just average up the husband and wife’s selling price and sell it as an average. The home stayed in the market for 720 days. It deteriorated to practically nothing because the wife wanted to stay in there free. So, it was worth $2,000,000. The husband thought it was worth nothing, so it was worth $400,000. You average it together, it wasn’t worth anywhere near what the average was. So, you have to take into consideration things even as minute as the process to sell the home.
By: Scott Shaw
Maybe the most common is what to do with the marital home and it’s not such an simple issue as one might think. Issues run the gamut. For example, what if one party wants to stay in the house, but the other party is the person whose name is on the mortgage? You don’t want to let that party stay in the house when they have no skin of the game. What if they don’t pay the mortgage? The other guy’s the one who’s going to be collected on and have their credit rating hurt. So, you need to address issues like that.
There’s also issues, how do you value the home? What if you want to sell the home? What’s the procedure to do it? You don’t want to happen what happened on one of the cases I had where previous counsel before me had agreed they’ll just average up the husband and wife’s selling price and sell it as an average. The home stayed in the market for 720 days. It deteriorated to practically nothing because the wife wanted to stay in there free. So, it was worth $2,000,000. The husband thought it was worth nothing, so it was worth $400,000. You average it together, it wasn’t worth anywhere near what the average was. So, you have to take into consideration things even as minute as the process to sell the home.
By: Scott Shaw
Probably the next most common question I’m asked about equitable distribution is how do you handle 401ks, IRAs, and other retirement accounts? Well one thing to know is if you have a 401k account, it is subject to be divided during divorce at least the marital portion of it, and it can be divided tax free through what’s called a Qualified Domestic Relations Order or a QDRO.
IRAs on the other hand can be divided tax free again, but you don’t need a QDRO to do it. You can do it administratively and normally through whatever brokerage account holds your IRA account. Other pension plans say like a fixed benefit plan where you get a certain amount per year after you retire, those two are subject to be divided once you determine what the marital portion is, and usually those are divided again through a QDRO that is called the same thing but it’s a bit different than a QDRO used to divide a 401k. All these assets can be divided tax free in a divorce.
Probably the biggest issue is just determining what the marital portion of these accounts are. Do not assume just because you don’t have a 401k that your spouse does not because you have an equitable interest in any 401k amounts of money accumulated during the marriage.
By: Scott Shaw
Probably the next most common question I’m asked about equitable distribution is how do you handle 401ks, IRAs, and other retirement accounts? Well one thing to know is if you have a 401k account, it is subject to be divided during divorce at least the marital portion of it, and it can be divided tax free through what’s called a Qualified Domestic Relations Order or a QDRO.
IRAs on the other hand can be divided tax free again, but you don’t need a QDRO to do it. You can do it administratively and normally through whatever brokerage account holds your IRA account. Other pension plans say like a fixed benefit plan where you get a certain amount per year after you retire, those two are subject to be divided once you determine what the marital portion is, and usually those are divided again through a QDRO that is called the same thing but it’s a bit different than a QDRO used to divide a 401k. All these assets can be divided tax free in a divorce.
Probably the biggest issue is just determining what the marital portion of these accounts are. Do not assume just because you don’t have a 401k that your spouse does not because you have an equitable interest in any 401k amounts of money accumulated during the marriage.
By: Scott Shaw
Temporary orders take effect during a divorce at the time the judge signs them and enters them with the clerk of court. It’s that simple. Once the order is signed, it gets entered with the clerk of court, there’s a file stamp date on it, the order is good and valid until either the divorce is dismissed, or a new order takes its place.
By: Scott Shaw
Temporary orders take effect during a divorce at the time the judge signs them and enters them with the clerk of court. It’s that simple. Once the order is signed, it gets entered with the clerk of court, there’s a file stamp date on it, the order is good and valid until either the divorce is dismissed, or a new order takes its place.
By: Scott Shaw
Dividing automobiles is sometimes simple. If the automobile is in each respective parties names and each respective party owes the debt in the automobile, then that’s not a problem. The problem comes, not from the title on the automobile which can easily transfer, the problem comes by whose name is on the debt that financed the automobile because absolutely, unless there’s no other choice, you do not want to give your ex-spouse the car that you’re liable to owe the money on. That just leads to bad consequences and that’s an issue we need to address in many divorces.
By: Scott Shaw
Dividing automobiles is sometimes simple. If the automobile is in each respective parties names and each respective party owes the debt in the automobile, then that’s not a problem. The problem comes, not from the title on the automobile which can easily transfer, the problem comes by whose name is on the debt that financed the automobile because absolutely, unless there’s no other choice, you do not want to give your ex-spouse the car that you’re liable to owe the money on. That just leads to bad consequences and that’s an issue we need to address in many divorces.
By: Scott Shaw
In a divorce in Georgia, an issue that often comes up is how do you divide a military pension? Under federal law, a military pension is considered to be marital property in a divorce. Now the entirety of the military pension may not be marital, but the portion that you earn during the marriage is subject to be divided in the state of Georgia.
So one of the first challenges you have is to ascertain what portion of your military pension is going to be marital property and subject to division and what portion is not, and therefore you’ll get to keep without dividing it with your spouse, and this is not an issue. It’s just any attorney can figure out for you.
It’s often mistakes are often made on it. Another misconception for military pensions is people often think that you have to be in the military for ten years in order for a pension to be divided, but that’s not true. The ten year rule only applies to how long you have to be married if you want the military to garnish your share of the pension.
If you’re married for less than ten years, the pension is still subject to be divided. You just have to get it paid directly from the spouse who receives the military pension. Military pensions are a frequent issue in divorce. Shaw Law Firm has handled many of these. If you have any questions, we’d be happy to take your telephone calls or inquiries. Thank you.
By: Scott Shaw
In a divorce in Georgia, an issue that often comes up is how do you divide a military pension? Under federal law, a military pension is considered to be marital property in a divorce. Now the entirety of the military pension may not be marital, but the portion that you earn during the marriage is subject to be divided in the state of Georgia.
So one of the first challenges you have is to ascertain what portion of your military pension is going to be marital property and subject to division and what portion is not, and therefore you’ll get to keep without dividing it with your spouse, and this is not an issue. It’s just any attorney can figure out for you.
It’s often mistakes are often made on it. Another misconception for military pensions is people often think that you have to be in the military for ten years in order for a pension to be divided, but that’s not true. The ten year rule only applies to how long you have to be married if you want the military to garnish your share of the pension.
If you’re married for less than ten years, the pension is still subject to be divided. You just have to get it paid directly from the spouse who receives the military pension. Military pensions are a frequent issue in divorce. Shaw Law Firm has handled many of these. If you have any questions, we’d be happy to take your telephone calls or inquiries. Thank you.
By: Scott Shaw
Hello. My name is Scott Shaw, founder and principal of Shaw Law Firm, LLC. A law firm I founded in 1995. Child custody along with divorce and other areas of family law are our only area of legal practice. We don’t accept any other types of cases. In this video I will be discussing the topic of Lump Sum Alimony. When most people think of alimony, they think of a monthly payment to the other spouse.
Lump Sum Alimony is different though. It is different because it is a one time award of assets to the other spouse, and it’s a very dangerous thing to play around with. Lump Sum Alimony is so dangerous, because it is a way for a court or a jury to punish the other party, or to otherwise do equity. Because in a divorce, what usually happens is that each party is awarded their non-marital or premarital assets, and then the parties divide up the marital assets.
But what happens when most of the assets are one party’s non-marital assets, leaving very little to divide to the other party? In such a case, the court has the power to invade your non-marital estate even if you inherited it, owned it before marriage or whatever, and award some or all of it to your spouse. And a court can do so just because, in the right case it is a huge weapon and it should be scary to you.
One case where this came into great effect for me involved a jury trial in which the opposing party, which is the husband in that case, brought a few million dollars into marriage. And he married my client, where the time of marriage was a six figure per year consultant, while he is having an affair with another woman. A few years into the marriage, my client gave up her career in order to have a baby. The opposing party was still having this affair with this other woman, and in fact had another baby with this woman unbeknownst to my client.
Five years past, and by the time my client figured all this out, her job skills had antiquated. Yet most of the assets in the case were still the husband’s non-marital assets that he brought into the marriage to begin with. He thought he was looking pretty, and my client had no ability to be awarded those assets. Since most of the assets in this case were non-marital, there wasn’t a whole lot to claim as marital property. We could ask for monthly traditional alimony, but instead of doing that we in addition demanded a Lump Sum award of alimony from his non-marital estate. And we demanded the jury award it to us. Long and short, this case ended up settling because the husband’s attorney saw the very large liability he had for the jury awarding a portion of his client’s non-marital assets to my client.
This could have been millions of dollars and possible liability for him, because we had a great case for an award of Lump Sum Alimony under these circumstances. This is one of the nuance factors of family law and divorce law that most people aren’t even aware of. And at Shaw Law Firm this is all we do, and we welcome your inquiries and questions. Thank you.
By: Scott Shaw
Hello. My name is Scott Shaw, founder and principal of Shaw Law Firm, LLC. A law firm I founded in 1995. Child custody along with divorce and other areas of family law are our only area of legal practice. We don’t accept any other types of cases. In this video I will be discussing the topic of Lump Sum Alimony. When most people think of alimony, they think of a monthly payment to the other spouse.
Lump Sum Alimony is different though. It is different because it is a one time award of assets to the other spouse, and it’s a very dangerous thing to play around with. Lump Sum Alimony is so dangerous, because it is a way for a court or a jury to punish the other party, or to otherwise do equity. Because in a divorce, what usually happens is that each party is awarded their non-marital or premarital assets, and then the parties divide up the marital assets.
But what happens when most of the assets are one party’s non-marital assets, leaving very little to divide to the other party? In such a case, the court has the power to invade your non-marital estate even if you inherited it, owned it before marriage or whatever, and award some or all of it to your spouse. And a court can do so just because, in the right case it is a huge weapon and it should be scary to you.
One case where this came into great effect for me involved a jury trial in which the opposing party, which is the husband in that case, brought a few million dollars into marriage. And he married my client, where the time of marriage was a six figure per year consultant, while he is having an affair with another woman. A few years into the marriage, my client gave up her career in order to have a baby. The opposing party was still having this affair with this other woman, and in fact had another baby with this woman unbeknownst to my client.
Five years past, and by the time my client figured all this out, her job skills had antiquated. Yet most of the assets in the case were still the husband’s non-marital assets that he brought into the marriage to begin with. He thought he was looking pretty, and my client had no ability to be awarded those assets. Since most of the assets in this case were non-marital, there wasn’t a whole lot to claim as marital property. We could ask for monthly traditional alimony, but instead of doing that we in addition demanded a Lump Sum award of alimony from his non-marital estate. And we demanded the jury award it to us. Long and short, this case ended up settling because the husband’s attorney saw the very large liability he had for the jury awarding a portion of his client’s non-marital assets to my client.
This could have been millions of dollars and possible liability for him, because we had a great case for an award of Lump Sum Alimony under these circumstances. This is one of the nuance factors of family law and divorce law that most people aren’t even aware of. And at Shaw Law Firm this is all we do, and we welcome your inquiries and questions. Thank you.
By: Scott Shaw
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