While no one marries with the idea of divorcing, top family lawyers can attest to the fact that unfortunately, divorce still happens to a good percentage of couples. When it does, one of the main areas that has to be settled fairly is the distribution of assets. Even if there are not many assets, it is still important that both partners are treated fairly when it comes to asset division.
In fact, the court will also decide on the fair division of debt as well as assets, so that one person is not left with the kind of debt that they cannot possibly manage and the other person gets assets and no debt. So how can a court possibly decide what is fair and what is not fair? Certainly it would be easier to make such a decision in a case where there are no children, both work and have equal income. However, this is rarely the case.
Sometimes, the wife is not trained to do any kind of work and if there are small children, it is usually the mother who must care for them – unless she is incapable of doing that for some reason. Then there is the question of assets that one or the other may have had beforehand, that they brought into the marriage and so on.
There is the question of whether both will care for the child or children equally in time, or whether one of them will take full responsibility. The court also takes into consideration future wage earning potential, and whether the children will be properly cared for if the prime carer also has a full-time job.