When heterosexual couples get divorced, they have to split up their assets. As a general rule, items that they owned before the date of the marriage are separate assets and aren’t subject to property division. It is only the assets that they purchased together – after getting married – that have to be divided.
But this can become a bit more difficult for LGBTQ couples who are getting divorced. After all, they may have been living together in a committed relationship for years or even decades before they were legally allowed to get married. Arkansas did not recognize LGBTQ marriages until 2014. But a couple that got married in 2014 certainly could have been together since 2004, for example, simply cohabitating because the law wouldn’t recognize their relationship yet.
What does this mean for asset division?
This can raise a lot of questions about what items people own jointly. For instance, if you and your partner bought a home or a car together before getting married, how does that impact asset division? What if you started saving for retirement or you had joint investment accounts?
In some cases, it can be argued that marital assets started to accumulate before the marriage was even technically legal. But this can be much more complex and may involve lengthy discussions, extensive paperwork, examination of financial records and much more. It’s not as simple as looking at the date on the marriage certificate, that’s why couples who are going through this type of complex divorce need to know about all of the legal steps they can take.