To Divide or Not to Divide?
Video Transcript: Hello everybody. This is Dustin Peterson, and I am The Oklahoma City Attorney. We’ve been talking about equitable property division in divorce, and today is no different. We have talked about the methods for distributing pension plans, and today is something similar but distinguishable, disability benefits.
What constitutes marital property, and what constitutes separate property as far as disability benefits?
Well, what we’re going to look at is what the disability benefits replace. If the disability benefits are used to replace, somewhat like a pension, a life savings that the person could draw upon to continue paying the bills, then that is typically viewed as marital property subject to division in divorce.
However, if the disability benefits are used in a way that functions as a loss of wage situation, for example, if the person is not yet retired and the disability compensates them for the wages that they would otherwise be making, then that in a post-divorce period is seen as separate property not distributable to your spouse in divorce.
This can get very complicated. Of course, there are situations where if the disability acts as a wage replacement, however it is not necessarily a government disability plan, but now we’re talking about a disability insurance plan where the premiums were paid with marital funds, now we’re drifting back into the area where even though they function as a wage replacement, because the source of funds now applies, they are subject to marital property division.
This can get very tricky, and I encourage you to hire an Oklahoma divorce lawyer to figure this out for you. And you’re welcome to call my office if you’d like at 405-880-8222, or look me up online at oklahomacitydivorceattorney.pro.
