Marital or Separate Property?
Video Transcribed: Hello everybody, this is Dustin Peterson and I am an OKC attorney. We have been talking about equitable property division in divorce and today’s topic will be about workers’ compensation settlements.
What happens if one spouse receives a lump sum workers’ compensation settlement prior to divorce? What happens to that settlement after divorce as far as the division of marital property? Is that lump sum award which was received one time and during the marriage completely and wholly marital property or is it separate property or somewhere in between?
There are a number of different ways that different jurisdictions have tackled this. There is a mechanistic approach which is basically a statutory determination. There is a case-by-case basis where courts will just take whatever comes at them and regurgitate some decision. There is a very simple unitary approach that says no it’s just it belongs to whoever received it it’s separate property. But none of that really works for us here in Oklahoma. We do what is called an analytical approach.
In the analytical approach, to the extent that the lump sum payment replaces wages lost during the marriage that lump sum portion will be marital property subject to division. However, to the extent that whatever remaining portion of that lump sum is to compensate for the loss of wages in the post-divorce time, that is separate property.
If you have any questions about workers’ compensation settlements as far as property divorce issues, please give me, an Oklahoma divorce lawyer, a call at 405-888-5400 or look me up online at theoklahomacityattorney.com.
