Unpublished Opinion – No. COA19-566 Carmen Cousin and Terry Cousin were married for seventeen years. They separated in May 2016. Upon separating, Carmen filed a complaint, which included a claim for equitable distribution. Terry then filed an answer, which included a counterclaim for equitable distribution. In the final equitable…
Recently, I have been giving thought to how increases in separate property values through the active work of a spouse is considered during equitable distribution. As a refresh, the goal of a trial court in divorce is to classify all property owned on the date of separation, value it, and…
Dechkovskaia v. Dechkovskaia, 232 N.C. App. 350 (2014) Equitable Distribution is a mechanism by which former spouses separate their personal and real property. Sometimes the spouses may have some marital (or divisible) interest in a third party’s property. One example is when a couple resides at one spouse’s parent’s residence,…
Brackney v. Brackney, 682 S.E.2d 401 (N.C. App. 2009). Facts: Plaintiff and Defendant had a child with severe neurological needs. To accommodate the child’s needs, they chose to build a single-level home that was accessible. The child unfortunately passed. The parties then separated a year later. The home’s construction was…
In Equitable Distribution, we often ask clients about the debts that they accrued during the marriage and the value on the date of separation. This is because the judge is required to classify, value, and distribute marital property. But it may not always include debts incurred during marriage. The debts…
Vonhall v. Vonhall, (No. COA20-466) (unpublished) In equitable distribution, clients often ask whether gifts to one spouse during the marriage is going to be subject to division. Below, we see a simple case example of how the law treats these gifts and the evidence that supports the legal conclusion: Facts:…
In North Carolina, we see cases where one spouse is primarily a breadwinner for the family, often bringing in most if not all of the income. In those case, the other spouse is the homemaker, the one that cares for the children and/or pets and maintains the home. And when…
Wall v. Wall, 140 N.C. App. 303 (2000). Former spouses in North Carolina can split their property in an action for Equitable Distribution (ED). In order for the Court to make a decision on distributing property, it needs an inventory affidavit of all property owned as a product of the…
Generally, military disability benefits are exempt from distribution in equitable distribution actions. Here we see whether the court can consider these benefits as income to satisfy a distributive award pursuant to an equitable distribution order. (In this case, Plaintiff improperly filed a Rule 60 motion to set aside the judgment,…
The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has made fundamental changes in how people interact with the world around them. Businesses immediately felt the impact. Small businesses of all kinds were forced to shut their doors in order to protect the public and their employees. The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), among other emergency…