Property Distribution in a Michigan Divorce
The factors to be considered are:
- The source of the property;
- The cause of the divorce;
- Each spouse's financial circumstances and rights to any insurance policies.
In terms of property distribution, Michigan is an "equitable distribution" state. The term "equitable" means the property will be divided fairly but not necessarily equally. Michigan courts can divide property that was acquired before, during, and sometimes even after the marriage, although property acquired before the marriage is usually exempt from division. The court does begin its examination by presuming that an equitable distribution is an equal distribution, however. The "marital" property, consisting of any other property acquired by either spouse during the marriage, will be divided equally, unless the court finds that equal division would be unjust.
Even though Michigan is a no-fault divorce state, the court will consider fault in its property division award, but will not punish a party by ordering an inequitable division of property. Other relevant factors in determining property division include:
- the duration of the marriage;
- property brought to the marriage by each party;
- the contribution of each party to the marriage, giving appropriate economic value to each party in homemaking and child care activities;
- age, health, occupation, amount and sources of income, vocational skills, employability, earning ability;
- the life status of the parties, including their needs and circumstances;
- reasonable opportunity of each spouse for future acquisition of capital assets and income;
- Any retirement benefits, including social security, civil service, and military and railroad retirement benefits;
- Any prior marriage of each spouse;
- The circumstances that contributed to the estrangement of the spouses;
- whether a party is the custodial parent living in the family home; and
- tax ramifications of the division of property.
(MCL 552.19, 552.101, and 552.401)
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