When you're going through a divorce, you usually want to have everything peacefully settled outside of court. This is known as an uncontested divorce; when both parties agree on every aspect of the divorce such as custody of children and assets. However, sometimes, your spouse may not be so inclined to agree with you and you may be considering taking a different route.

If you are considering going through a contested divorce, be ready to hire a divorce attorney and prepare to go to trial. Even while you are still in the pre-trial phase, there is still an opportunity to reach an agreement to save yourselves the headache and the money. However, before you make any rational decision, it's important that you know the difference between the two types of divorces so that you can thoroughly weigh out your options when it comes to your assets.

Finances and Assets

If you choose to go with an uncontested divorce, you and your spouse will be able to work out the division of the assets among yourself. This can be beneficial because you guys may have certain preferences on what you want to keep and they may be lenient about certain things.

If you decide to take it to trial, the judge will divide all of the "marital assets" equally. This means that any money or assets that were accumulated from the day you got married up until the day that you legally separated will be considered. You get to keep everything that you had before the marriage and vice versa. Although every state has different ways of doing this, it is pretty much the standard everywhere.

The only exception to this rule is when it is determined by the court that one of you guys have used the money accumulated during the marriage for unethical reasons such as:

• To fund a gambling addiction
• To fund a drug addiction
• To purchase things for the person who one of you committed adultery with (if this applies)

If you had a significant amount of assets before you got married, it is important to look for any old receipts or anything that proofs that you are the original owner. This is because in court, it can be hard to prove non-marital assets. For example, let's say you owned a house before you got married and then you sold it and used it to make a down payment on a bigger house for you and your wife. The house new house would be considered a marital asset because it was purchased during your marriage. You would have to prove that this asset came from proceeds of another asset that you had prior to your marriage and the judge may compensate you for that.

To conclude, a divorce can be extremely stressful for both parties which is why it is important to understand your options and contact an attorney, like Garrett & Silvey Law Firm, before proceeding with anything.