How Should We Divide Marital Property?

Missouri is an equitable division of property state. This means that the court does not necessarily have to split property equally, just equitably.  That being said, the majority of judges still tend to stick close to a 50/50 division in divorce cases unless there are special circumstances, such as an abusive spouse or one spouse having dramatically higher earning potential. It is important to remember that the division of property in a divorce case also includes the division of the marital debt, which is any debt that was incurred during the marriage. While it may be equitable to assign debt to the party that incurred the debt, judges also assign debt equally to parties in some cases where earning potential is similar.