Divorce in Tennessee

In Tennessee, assets and debts acquired during your marriage called "marital property" - will be divided "equitably" when you divorce. "Marital property" is all jointly owned property, other than separate property, acquired by either or both spouses during the marriage. "Separate property" is property owned prior to the marriage or property that was inherited or received as a gift. Separate property is retained by the owning spouse.

Examples of separate property:

• Assets you had before you married may be considered non-marital or separate property if you kept that property separated from property acquired during the marriage
• Income produced by a separate property investment may also be non-marital property, as long as it hasn't been "commingled" - mixed together with marital property
• Property you inherit from your family during your marriage will generally be considered your own separate property if it was willed exclusively to you and you did not commingle it with marital property during the marriage.

In deciding how to divide the property owned by divorcing couples, judges will consider a number of factors, including:

• Length of the marriage
• Age, physical and mental health, vocational skills, employability, earning capacity, estate, financial liabilities and financial needs of each spouse
• Contribution by one spouse to the education, training or increased earning power of the other spouse
• Relative ability of each spouse for future acquisitions of capital assets and income
• Contribution of each spouse to the acquisition, preservation, appreciation, depreciation or dissipation of the marital or separate property, including the contribution of a party to the marriage as homemaker, wage earner or parent, with the contribution of a party as homemaker or wage earner to be given the same weight if each party has fulfilled its role
• Value of the separate property
• Estate of each spouse at the time of the marriage
• Economic circumstances of each spouse at the time the division of property is to become effective
• Tax consequences to each spouse
• Amount of social security benefits available to each spouse

It is important to collect all the information you can about all your property, including when you purchased it, approximately how much it is worth, and details such as account numbers, serial numbers and so forth. Collecting this information before you see a Tennessee divorce lawyer can save you a lot of time and money.

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Alimony

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