1. Review – Marital Property Step One: Classify Prop: Mar/Non-Mar/Mixed Issues Appreciation: active/H or W efforts = marital passive = non-marital Commingling: mixing of non-mar/mar prop results in non-mar prop becoming mar Pension – portion that is mar # of yrs married # of yrs. employed February 19, 2004

2. Step Two: FMV – Debt (Liens, Mortgages) Parties Responsibility/Battle of Experts

3. Step Three: Equitable Distribution Court’s authority varies from state-to-state Md limited – sale of joint property; transfer ownership in pension-like assets; order one party to pay other party monetary award *Note: Fact that property classified as marital in Step One does not always lead to 50/50 split in Step Three (Example: lottery in Alston; train set in Long)

4. Marital Property III New Issues: HOW TO TREAT: 1)Pensions 2)Professional Degrees/Licenses 3)Goodwill from Business or Professional Practices Divisible Marital Property or Source of Funds for Future Payments of Spousal Support/Alimony?

5. Marital Prop/Alimony Factors (8-205) (11-106) Contributions: mon/non-mon Income/prop of each party Circumstances of breakup Duration of marriage Age and health of parties Award of alimony/marital prop Marital prop add: any other factor relevant to fairness Alimony add: standard of living during marriage

6. Mar. Prop. Award Alimony Decision to award based Also multi-factor on multi-factor standard standard Lump sum pymt based on Periodic pymts past acquisition of assets based on current income May be dischargeable in Gen. not bankruptcy dischargeable Non-taxable transferTax. income to payee Goals: More Emphasis Goals: More Emphasis on on Compensation Need

7. Marital Debts I.Definitions: MD: Debt directly traceable to acquisition of marital property Roberts (and some other jurisdictions): debt acquired during the marriage II. Court’s Authority Roberts (and some other jurisdictions): allocate marital debt between the spouses

8. MD: If debt deemed “marital” court cannot “distribute” or allocate between spouses but relevant for either: 1)Reducing value of marital asset, and 2)Determining “economic circumstances of party” for purposes of monetary award or alimony