Is There A Formula For Dividing The Marital Estate?

Hey folks, Mark Scroggins with Scroggins Law Group and before we get into these q&a is want to remind everybody that this is just providing a general answer to questions that are posed by our listenership and viewership out there. So at no time does that create an attorney client relationship between you and me, or between you and any member of Scroggins Law Group. So I hope these questions are good for you. And it answers some of the questions that you got. So the first one is, is there a formula for dividing the marital estate? So remember, in dividing the marital estate, we’re not talking about anything with separate property. So for more of a definition with separate property, look at some of our other videos. So when you talk about is there a formula? Not really, you’ve got a you’re dividing what is called community property in the state of Texas. So the starting point is really a 5050. But there are a lot of different ways that you can end up with what is called a disparate division of the marital estate. The biggest issue is when there is a significant disparity in earning capacity. So if someone’s making half a million, and someone’s making 50,000, there is going to be a significant disparate division. Now what does that mean as far as significant? Well, significant in Texas might be 55%, it might be 60%, it might be 65%. It really depends on a lot of different issues. So you don’t only deal with disparity and earning capacity, but you also deal with what I will call bad acts. Okay. So bad acts can be the fault bases that a divorce is granted. It can also be things like Does somebody have a shopping addiction or a sex addiction or drug addiction or an alcohol addiction or, are they just an asshole, okay.. So if you’ve got something where you can prove cruel treatment, all of these different factors play in and depending on what you can determine on that is going to determine the significance of the disparate division of your marital estate.