Charlotte Divorce Lawyer Blog
What is the Difference Between Assets and Income?
Divorce requires you and your spouse to identify and divide all your property and assets. In North Carolina, the law provides for an equal or equitable distribution of marital property in divorce. Both spouses must provide their financial information that details their assets. You must identify your marital and separate property as well as disclose your income as part of the divorce proceedings. An experienced divorce attorney will assist you through the divorce process from start to finish.
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What is the Difference Between Assets and Income?
Assets and income are similar, but there are important distinctions when it comes to divorce. For purposes of divorce, assets are divided between parties as part of the settlement. Income is what the court looks at primarily to determine child support and alimony issues. Determining assets and income can be complex because, in some cases, there may be overlap between the two.
Assets include physical property as well as money and investments. Some common types of assets are your marital home, car, bank accounts, real estate, investments, artwork, and collections. Some assets that may be overlooked include such things as vacation pay, season tickets to events, timeshares, tax refunds, and frequent flyer points, among others. You will want to make sure that you include everything in the list of assets.
Income generally comes from your salary or wages, earnings from your own business or as a self-employed individual, or from investments or other sources. According to the IRS, income is anything you have to pay taxes on your tax return. Therefore, income includes your salary, bonuses, sick pay, commissions, vacation pay, and tips. In addition, income includes severance pay, workers’ compensation, prizes, gifts, and distributions from retirement accounts.
List Your Assets and Income
One of the first steps in negotiating a divorce settlement is to make a comprehensive list of your assets and income. Keep in mind that you should also indicate whether an asset is marital or individual. Typically, marital property includes anything you purchased or obtained during your marriage. Individual assets are usually things you owned before you got married, as well as gifts and inheritances you received.
It is necessary to be as precise as possible when providing asset and income information to the court because the judge will review it when calculating support as well as in the distribution of assets. When you make a list of your assets and income, you should include the source of compensation. This will make it easier for the court to decide how it should be handled in the settlement and in the computation of support.
Many questions may arise when you list your assets and income. Many times, the ownership and distribution of assets can be extremely complex. This is particularly true in cases where the parties have been married for a long time or when they have a large number of assets or high income. A knowledgeable divorce attorney will help you sort through the details and answer your questions. Contact Arnold & Smith, PLLC, at (704) 370-2828 to schedule a consultation with our legal team.
The family law practice group at Arnold & Smith, PLLC includes two Board-Certified Family Law specialists and one Child Welfare Law specialist, as well as several attorneys with many years of family law experience that are committed to providing a powerful voice to individuals facing the often-tumultuous issues in this area of law. The range of issues our family law clients may be facing include pre- and post-nuptial agreements; separation agreements; post-separation support; child support (both temporary and permanent); absolute divorce; divorce from bed and board; military divorce; equitable distribution of assets; child custody (both temporary and permanent); retirement benefits and divorce; alimony and spousal support; adoption; and emancipation. Because this area of the law is usually emotionally charged and complicated, the family law attorneys at Arnold & Smith, PLLC act with the utmost dedication to ensure that each client understands his or her options, and then act to achieve the best result possible for that client’s particular situation.
Source:
https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/marital_property
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/i/income.asp
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