Q: Can my wife trade in her car that was owned outright for a lease; I believe she is liquidating assets. She has a lawyer,
She says she wants a divorce; but hasn’t served me yet. She makes roughly $40,000 more a year than me but has only $10,0000 in savings. I have substantially more money in the bank than her. We have always had separate accounts since marriage began 12 years ago and split bills evenly. She likes to spend and waste money and I save. She said she wants 1/2 of everything I have. We have one child.
A: It's good that you have kept separate finances throughout the marriage, but anything acquired during the marriage is generally considered to be part of the marital estate and subject to equitable division. That doesn't mean everything will be equally divided, just fairly divided based on the circumstances. You can make some strong arguments about why she should not be entitled to half of what you have, but the end result will either be whatever you and she are able to agree is a fair division or whatever a judge decides is equitable. The large majority of divorces are resolved through an agreement between the spouses, very few go to trial to be decided by a judge. Trials are costly and many people would end up spending much more on a trial than they would have given up by coming to an agreement in which they don't get exactly what they want. You should definitely speak with a few attorneys who could give you more detailed guidance based on the specifics of your situation.
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