ARE PREMARITAL ASSETS EXEMPT FROM DIVISION IN A DIVORCE?
by Raymond Pater

A party's premarital assets are usually not considered divisible in a divorce unless the other spouse contributed to the acquisition, improvement or accumulation of the property, or the marital property is insufficient for the suitable support and maintenance of the other spouse. This general rule may be further complicated by particular facts such as a house being returned to the spouse that brought it into the marriage, but the other spouse sharing in the increase in equity during the marriage.

In Sparks vs Sparks (1992) the Michigan Supreme Court listed nine factors that a court can review in deciding how to divide property. The contribution of the parties to the acquisition of the assets was only one of the nine factors, and the Court stated: ‘‘lt is not desirable, or feasible, for us to establish a rigid framework of applying the relevant factors. The trial court is given broad discretion in fashioning its rulings and there can be no strict mathematical formulations.’’ The case of Reeves vs. Reeves (Court of Appeals, 1997) seems to conflict with the Sparks case when it held that a court should not divide property acquired outside the marriage except in unusual circumstances. The Reeves Court made the source of the property more important that the other eight factors listed in Sparks..

An experienced divorce attorney can help you decide how property in your situation should be divided. Like many matters involving the law, things are often not quite as simple as they might first appear.

Contact Raymond Pater at 616-396-8883.