DMR.2.7.020 Definition

The "marital estate" is the income and assets accumulated by the spouses during their marriage, not including gifts or inheritances received by one spouse individually during the marriage. The marital estate does not include individually owned property brought into the marriage by each spouse, but does include income, interest, dividends or increase in value earned by that property during the marriage. The marital estate is reduced by the debts incurred by the parties during the marriage, but not by the individual debts of the parties brought into the marriage, which remain the individual responsibility of the individual who incurred the debt. The Court may determine the extent to which debts incurred individually by one spouse after separation reduce the marital estate. The title by which property or debt is held is not determinative of whether it is part of the marital estate. The parties may, by marital property agreement freely entered into upon full disclosure, modify their marital estate and provide for the division of property and assignment of debts in the event of divorce or separation.