Life Changes: Divorce (Asset Division)

Getting Divorced in Utah: What happens to property, assets and retirement funds?

In Utah, an “equitable division” of property is required. Equitable does not mean a 50/50 split. Equitable simply means fair. If the two parties can reach an agreement that they feel is equitable, the judge will still review the agreement to make sure that it qualifies as fair.

There are many contributing factors in deciding what is an equitable division. The Utah Courts gives the following guidelines:

Deciding what is a fair distribution of property includes several factors, such as how long the marriage has lasted, the age and health of the parties, their occupations, the amounts and sources of income and related matters.

For long-term marriages, equitable may mean a 50-50 split, or the court may decide that it is fair to give one party more or less than 50% of the property.

For short term marriages, the court may put the people back into the economic position they had before the marriage. In other words, he gets what was his at the beginning of the marriage, and she gets what was hers.

Division of Real Property (Land, houses)

Generally, regardless of whose name is on the deed, any property bought during the marriage will be divided as marital property. Either the property will be split and the proceeds split, or an agreement can be reached where one person might get more of something else to off-set the other getting the property. The property may need to be refinanced in order to get the mortgage in the right name.

Personal Property (Cars, boats, jewelry, furniture, tools, etc)

Like Real Property, in general, personal property will be divided as marital property regardless of whose name might be a title. The loose guideline is to divide up the property so each person can set up a new home.

Retirement Accounts

Retirement accounts and pensions can be tricky because of tax implications of early withdrawal and the long term nature of their setup. The following is an excerpt from the Utah Courts Website.

Good luck in your search for answers. I hope this is helpful.

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**I am not an attorney and am in no way trying to give legal advice or practice law. The information on this website is for informational purposes only and not for the purpose of providing legal advice. You should contact an attorney to obtain advice with respect to any particular issue or problem.

Two attorneys in St. George, Utah that practice family law are Sam Draper and Adam Caldwell. The primary source for information on this site has been the Utah Courts Website.