Dividing Assets and Liabilities
How a couple's property and debts get divided depends heavily on which of two systems their state follows. Nine states — Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin — are **community property states**, where nearly everything acquired during the marriage is treated as jointly owned and typically split 50/50, while property owned before the marriage or received individually as a gift or inheritance generally stays separate. The remaining states follow **equitable distribution**, which aims for a fair — not necessarily equal — division based on judicial discretion. Equitable distribution courts typically weigh the length of the marriage, each spouse's age, health, income, and earning potential, each spouse's contribution to acquiring marital property (including non-financial contributions like homemaking or supporting a partner's career), whether either spouse sacrificed career opportunities for the family, the custody arrangement, and, in some states, whether one spouse wasted, hid, or dissipated marital assets. In both systems, debts acquired during the marriage are generally divided using the same framework as assets.