The law in North Carolina protects your right to a fair share of your marital estate when you divorce. Whatever you and your spouse bought together or earned while married will generally need to get split.

Sometimes, one spouse will try to withhold marital assets or reduce what there is to share. How might one spouse impact the value of the marital estate and therefore the share of what their ex receives in their North Carolina divorce?

They give away property or sell assets for a pittance

You will have to create an inventory of your assets and puts estimated prices on marital property so that you can determine a fair way to split everything. Some people will try to reduce the overall pool of marital assets by just giving away property. Others may have a sale where they sell household assets for pennies on the dollar. Some will even sell vehicles or major assets to friends or co-workers with the intention of “buying” them back after the divorce.

They intentionally incur debt

Some people will go out and open a new credit card right before they file for divorce because they assume their ex will have to help them pay. Other people will use existing lines of credit until there is no available credit and a huge bill to pay. Some people engage in similar behavior by using liquid capital and emptying bank accounts. This can have the same effect as increasing the overall marital debt level.

Thankfully, the equitable distribution laws in North Carolina specifically talk about wastefulness and contributions made by each spouse. If you can show that your spouse gave away property, spent money on an affair or took on debt just to punish you, the courts may exclude those financial amounts from your divorce or otherwise alter the property division settlements to reflect that misconduct.

Learning more about the law makes it easier to protect yourself when dividing your property in a North Carolina divorce.