Non-marital assets and liabilities belong only to one of you and aren’t divided in the Equitable Distribution process. An asset is real or personal property. A liability is a loan or promissory note. Most everything you bought or borrowed during your marriage will be considered a marital asset liability, but there are five categories of assets/liabilities that are non-marital under Florida law.
Those non-marital categories are:- Assets or liabilities acquired before the marriage
- Inheritances and other gifts during the marriage
- Any income received from non-marital gifts unless you relied on or treated that income as a marital asset.
- Assets defined as non-marital in a written agreement (pre or post nuptial agreement)
- A liability obtained by forgery of one spouse’s name by the other spouse. The forging spouse gets that liability, if the other has specific proof.
In considering Equitable Distribution, a court will only consider “marital” assets and liabilities. Non-marital assets come into play primarily with alimony determinations.
When you have non-marital assets/liabilities but mix them with marital assets, by depositing your inheritance check into a joint marital account for example, you may have “co-mingled” these assets so that they aren’t considered non-marital anymore. This area can be a minefield and you will most likely want some professional advice if the two of you can’t decide on a fair way to divide co-mingled property.
