USA – OKLAHOMA Trends and Developments Contributed by: Aaron Bundy and Danya Bundy, Bundy Law
Bundy Law 2200 South Utica Place Suite 222 Tulsa OK 74114 USA
Tel: +1 918 208 0129 Fax: +1 918 512 4998 Email: info@bundy.law Web: www.bundylawoffice.com
In Spouse v Out Spouse: Dividing Property in Oklahoma Divorce Cases There are two terms of art in respect of divorcing spouses: the “in spouse” and the “out spouse”. Broadly, an in spouse is a spouse possessing more knowledge of the parties’ financial picture. The in spouse is often the primary earner who takes care of the bills and has the most relation - ships with financial professionals used during the marriage. The in spouse may have more income, more separate property and greater access to assets titled in their name. An out spouse has significantly less knowledge of the parties’ finances, less financial education overall, and often less access to liquidity during a divorce. The out spouse is typically viewed as extremely disadvantaged during the divorce process. Two property regimes: separate and marital In the contexts of marriage and divorce, there are two classifications of property: separate property and marital (or jointly acquired) prop - erty. Separate property includes property owned by a spouse before the marriage, property des - ignated as separate in an antenuptial (prenuptial) agreement, personal injury proceeds to com - pensate for pain and suffering, and property received by a spouse by way of gift or inherit -
ance. Jointly acquired property is property that is accumulated by the joint industry of the husband and wife during the marriage, regardless of how the property is titled. In other words, property purchased during a marriage by a spouse using marital funds (such as that spouse’s income earned during the mar - riage), titled only in the acquiring spouse’s name, is still presumed to be marital. Although title alone does not determine the marital nature of property, there is a legal presumption that prop - erty titled jointly is marital in nature, regardless of the source of funds used to acquire the property. Income earned by either spouse during a mar - riage is considered marital property. Property that would otherwise be a spouse’s separate property may be converted to joint property by naming the other spouse as a joint tenant or by commingling (mixing) joint funds with separate funds. These concepts – in spouse, out spouse, sep - arate, marital, and commingling – are funda - mental, well known, and fairly easily explained. Often, high net worth individuals having inher - ited property or a successful enterprise that was established prior to marriage make the assump -
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