Understanding Fault in Dividing Damaged Property
Hi, I’m Tulsa divorce attorney Clint Hastings, and I focus on father’s rights. Today I’m going to talk to you about this concept of fault when you’re talking about damaged personal property that was done during the marriage before you separated. What I mean is when it comes time to divvy up the property, people want to say they broke that back while we were married, and therefore now they need to pay for it.
It doesn’t work like that. If they damaged it after you guys separated, that’s a different story. The judge may make them responsible for that. But when you’re married you were still in a partnership. Now if one did it on purpose and intentionally with the outlook of depriving that person of the property upon a divorce, that was forthcoming and anticipated; that’s different too.
Examples of Damaged Property Division
But I’m specifically thinking about, for example, if a car has gone underwater because let’s say your wife ran it into another car in the parking lot. It wasn’t enough to claim on or you didn’t have collision insurance, and you’re wanting now to say she needs to make up for that because she’s the one that wrecked it back during the marriage. Well, it simply doesn’t work like that because had you not gotten divorced it generally would have been your concern about that damage.
Now perhaps in some cases people some married couples will keep their finances and property so separate that you could make an argument like that. But I see this happen more often than I care to because things get broken all the time. You know it’s like well they broke that TV that I went and bought while we were married, and that was you know $2,000 TV and she broke it therefore now she owes me the $2,000. Well no not if it was long before the divorce was even filed or contemplated.
Free Consultation Available
Try to use that to have an eye toward what really will count, which will help you save time, effort, and money. Thanks for watching. For a low-cost consultation, call Tulsa Dads.Law attorney Clint Hastings today at 918-962-0900.
