Timothy Sumer

Divorce Division of Assets Illustrated In a previous post, I addressed the process of identifying, categorizing and valuing assets prior to the assets’ being divided in an Arizona divorce case. This post will provide an example of how assets and debts could be divided in a hypothetical case. Under A.R.S. §25-318, a judge in an Arizona divorce case is to divide assets equitably, “though not necessarily in kind . . . .” This phrase–“not necessarily in kind”–simply means that, while the overall division of assets and debts must be fair, or substantially equal, an Arizona judge is not required to equally divide each individual asset equally. Similarly, the judge is not required to liquidate all assets and divide the proceeds equally. In the example I will use, the husband and wife have community property consisting of a house with $50,000 equity, a truck with $15,000 equity, a car with $20,000 equity, a boat worth $20,000, a 401(k) worth $100,000, and credit cards totaling