Divorce can be a stressful topic to think about as you don’t know where to begin. It can be emotionally and mentally exhausting as you fight for custody and marital property. Will your properties be split evenly? Before you move forward with your case, you must understand how divorce laws work in Nebraska, specifically custody and assets distribution.

Since Nebraska has an equitable distribution rate, marital status, and liabilities are divided fairly. However, it doesn’t always mean the assets are split evenly. Divorce can be very stressful for both parties involved, and if you do not know what assets you have or what debts you have, then this could cause problems when trying to divide everything up between the two people.

Equitable Distribution in Nebraska Divorce

Nebraska is an equitable distribution state, and only property acquired during the marriage is subject to division following divorce. The court will consider several factors, including non-monetary contributions and education costs paid by one partner, to determine how property should be divided in the case of divorce.

During a divorce, the court will divide marital property between you and your spouse. The spouses can agree upon equitable distribution or property division through a property settlement or court decision as part of the divorce process. State laws govern how property is divided between spouses during divorces, such as community property laws and definitions of marital contributions.

How are properties distributed during a divorce?

Nebraska courts must consider all of the circumstances, including each spouse’s income and debts, before deciding who gets what.

Before a court can divide your property, it needs to know which property belongs to the marriage and which belongs to the spouses separately. Property acquired or earned during a marriage is considered “marital property.” Nonmarital property refers to what you owned before marriage or acquired through inheritance, gift (as long as the gift is not from your spouse), or rent from the nonmarital property.

As long as both parties are willing to work through all aspects of the divorce process—including property division—everything should go smoothly.

If you and your spouse own a home together, the court will consider all factors involved to reach a fair outcome as they view it. The issue becomes more complicated if other assets or debts are not tied to a particular asset (like a mortgage). In this case, it may not always be 50/50.

The distinction between marital and nonmarital property is important because the court divides only the marital property when the marriage ends. Any nonmarital property remains in the hands of the spouse who owned it before or during the marriage. However, the court can use nonmarital property to fulfill an alimony request.

Because assets accumulated during a marriage are divided equally in Nebraska, people in long-term marriages are more likely to get more assets than those in short-term marriages.

Dividing Property: What is Considered in Property Division?

During a divorce, a court will divide real property like a family home, personal property like jewelry, and intangible assets like income and pensions. Before dividing debt, it must be characterized as marital or nonmarital property. If it cannot be excluded as nonmarital property, the court will divide it between the spouses based on the same principles applied to the distribution of assets.

Nebraska courts divide marital assets in a divorce case based on a set of factors, including:

• The length of the marriage
• The age, health, and physical condition of each spouse
• The conduct of the spouses during the marriage
• Whether one spouse contributed more than the other spouse in terms of household maintenance and childcare responsibilities
• The extent to which each spouse helped the other build their professional careers
• If one spouse has accumulated savings or income through retirement accounts or investments while they were married

It is not uncommon for a court to award a spouse one-third to one-half of the marital property in a divorce case. However, courts are not bound by clear-cut numerical guidelines when making this decision. The court will consider all factors, including an equitable distribution of assets and payment of debts. Although one spouse might receive 90% of the marital property, this rarely happens.

The Bottomline

Divorce cases in Nebraska are handled under the equitable distribution policy rather than the community property system. This means that judges will divide marital property based on each spouse’s contributions to the marriage, their earning ability and needs following separation, and any economic misconduct of one spouse. In short, property and assets are distributed fairly by the court between the spouses, but it doesn’t always denote that it’s divided 50/50.