If you’re asking yourself, “can my spouse take my vehicle during our divorce?” you may want to speak to a Seattle, Washington family lawyer. Division of property is governed by Washington law 26.09.080. If your vehicle is community property, then both you and your spouse have rights to the vehicle. If the vehicle is truly separate property, then your spouse cannot take your vehicle.
Determining whether your car is truly separate property, or community property can sometimes get complicated, which is why many people seek the assistance of a divorce lawyer in Seattle, Washington to help them divide assets, debts, and property.
Your spouse cannot take your vehicle if your vehicle is truly considered your separate property. But, if your vehicle is considered community property, both you and your spouse have rights to the vehicle, and deciding who gets to take the vehicle will require negotiation.
What is Separate Property?
It is possible for married individuals to maintain separate property under Washington law. If you owned the car before you got married, the car will most likely be considered your separate property. If you received the car as an inheritance or gift, your car will most likely be considered your separate property.
And if you owned an investment account or savings account and used this money to buy a car in your own name, the car will most likely be considered your separate property. If your car is your separate property, it is unlikely your spouse would be able to take your vehicle in your Washington divorce.
What is Community Property?
After you get married, any money you make becomes community property and any property or assets you purchase using community property also becomes community property.
Under Washington law, each spouse has a 50% interest in community property and income. So, any money you earn at your job after you are married would generally be considered community property, meaning your spouse has a 50% interest in those funds.
Any purchase made using this money would also be considered community property. So, if you used money from your paycheck to buy a car after you were married, it’s possible that the car might be considered community property, and therefore both you and your spouse would have a right to the vehicle.
So, Can Your Spouse Take Your Vehicle if it’s Separate Property?
If the situation is very clear-cut, and your vehicle is separate property, then your spouse cannot take your vehicle. For example, if you owned the vehicle in your own name prior to your marriage, kept the vehicle in your name during the marriage, and maintained the vehicle using money from your own separate bank account, then more likely than not, the vehicle will be considered separate property.
Another example of a situation where your spouse would not be able to take your vehicle would be a situation where a vehicle was gifted to you or where you inherited the vehicle, kept the vehicle title in your name, and maintained the vehicle using assets from your own separate funds.
Some couples who bring significant wealth or investments into a marriage might take special steps to ensure that certain assets or accounts they bring into the marriage remain separate. For example, a couple might keep savings, investments, as well as profits, rents, or interest acquired from separate property in a separate bank account.
Sometimes couples in this situation also have a prenuptial agreement in place to ensure that there is clarity about what assets and property will be considered separate. In this case, if a spouse purchases a car using profits, rents, or interest earned from separate property, and maintains the car using these funds, the car would generally be considered separate property.
Unfortunately, when it comes to major assets like a vehicle, things are rarely this clear-cut.
Shared Property
For most marital situations, more expensive asserts like homes and vehicles are often shared assets. Unless couples took pains to write a prenuptial agreement making a clear distinction between separate and shared property, and unless couples took pains to keep separate property truly separate, assets purchased or maintained after marriage can become shared property. Let’s explore how this might happen.
When it comes to larger purchases, like a vehicle, many married couples might use both community property and separate property to pay for these assets and purchases. Let’s look at some of these “shared property” scenarios. Let’s say you purchased a BMW before you were married. The BMW is in your name, but to afford the purchase of the vehicle, you had to take out a significant loan. When you got married, you were still making payments on the BMW, and continued to make payments on the BMW after you were married.
The payments you made on the vehicle before you were married clearly came from separate funds, but after you were married, the payments came from community funds because you used money you earned after you were married to make those payments.
Because your spouse now has a community interest those earnings, and because those community funds were used to make payments on the BMW, it becomes less clear whether the BMW should be considered separate or community property. In this case, it becomes less clear whether your spouse could claim a portion of your car’s value in your divorce.
Here’s another scenario that can happen with a major purchase, like a vehicle. Let’s say you had a significant amount of money saved before you got married. This money would be considered separate property.
You get married, and you and your partner decide to buy a car. You use a significant portion of your savings to buy the car, but then take out a loan for the remainder of the vehicle’s value, and the payments for this loan come from community earnings. Again, even though you used your own savings to pay off a significant chunk of the vehicle’s value up front, community money might also have been used to pay for the loan on the vehicle, meaning the vehicle could potentially be considered community property.
And here’s yet another situation where things can get muddy involving a major asset like a vehicle.
Let’s say you purchased a vehicle prior to your marriage. It’s clearly your separate property. But, after you were married, you used community property to make improvements to the vehicle. Let’s say it was an antique and you used community property to buy a new engine. Or let’s say your spouse is a good mechanic and used his labor to repair the vehicle when it broke down.
When community labor or community funds are used to maintain or improve on a property considered “separate property,” the community will have gained an interest in that property. In cases where both separate and community funds are used to make a major purchase, your divorce lawyer will need to determine what percentage of separate money was used to make the purchase and what percentage of community property was used to make the purchase or maintain the purchase.
If you put half of your separate savings to pay for the car, and the other half of the car’s payments came from community property, you’ll legally own half the value of the car, while the other half of the value of the vehicle would be considered community property.
If you had a loan on a vehicle, your divorce lawyer would need to see how much of the vehicle was paid off before you were married, and how much of the vehicle was paid off using community funds. If labor or community funds were used to maintain a vehicle that would have otherwise been considered separate property, your lawyer would need to determine whether the labor or community money resulted in any appreciation of the vehicle’s value.
Things can get even more complicated than this, though.
When it comes to shared assets, things don’t always amount to a clear 50-50 split, even if your divorce lawyer can trace how much of your separate funds were used to put a down payment on your car and how much of your community funds were used to pay off the loan. You could have a 50% interest in the “community” stake of the car, and 100% interest in the stake of the car you funded yourself.
Yet, in divorce negotiations, assets and debts are not always split 50-50. Under Washington law, courts require that assets and debts be divided equitably.
Making these determinations can get complicated, especially if you are determined to keep your car, or if your spouse is determined to take the vehicle in your divorce.
So, What About the Vehicle?
Determining whether your spouse can take your vehicle involves asking the question of whether your car is considered community property in your marriage or whether your car is considered separate property. It is not just as easy as asking whether the car was purchased before you were married or after you were married, because if your car was purchased using separate funds, the car might be considered separate property, even if it was purchased after you were married. It is also not sufficient to look at the title.
Even if the car is only in one spouse’s name, the car might still be considered community property if it was purchased using community funds, meaning that both partners would have a community interest in the vehicle, and meaning that the vehicle would be subject to division during divorce.
If the ownership of the car is disputed, your family lawyers would need to trace how the car was purchased. Your family lawyer would likely ask crucial questions like:
- Was the car purchased before you were married or after you were married?
- If the car was purchased after you were married, was the car purchased using separate funds?
- Is there a prenuptial agreement that would offer clarity about who owns the vehicle?
- Was the car an inheritance or gift to one spouse? Or was the car purchased using inheritance money or funds?
- Was the car purchased using community funds, like a shared bank account, or using community investments, interests, or rents?
- Was any community labor or money used to maintain, improve, or pay for loans on the vehicle?
These are just some questions your divorce lawyer in Seattle, Washington might ask when determining whether your spouse could take your vehicle.
Typically, during a divorce, each spouse is entitled to keep his or her separate property, and half the value of community property. Yet, Washington law allows for the equitable division of property. This means that one spouse could potentially come out of a divorce with more than 50% of the community property.
Take for example a situation where one partner worked while the other stayed home to raise the children, or a situation where one partner supported the other while the partner pursued a medical degree. In this kind of situation, the court would consider the contributions both partners made to the marriage and might divide property in an equitable way to ensure that the non-earning, but contributing spouse, doesn’t leave the marriage penniless or carless.
Say, for example, there’s one vehicle in the family, but your partner stayed home to raise the children. If your divorce will leave your partner without a vehicle or way to get around town, the court might award your partner the vehicle, especially if you have the means or earning capacity to easily purchase another vehicle for yourself after your divorce.
Can My Spouse Take My Vehicle During Separation?
Things can get complicated if you and your spouse plan to separate before you finalize your divorce, and need to make decisions about who gets the car when you live apart. And, if you make purchases after a separation, but before you finalize your divorce, these purchases (like a car purchase) could also be technically considered community property. It doesn’t matter whose name is on the title.
Basically, if there’s any question about whether there’s a community property interest in the car, both parties would have a stake in the car.
If both partners have a community interest in a shared vehicle, it can be tough to determine who gets the vehicle during the separation without the assistance of a lawyer. This is why many couples choose to speak to a divorce lawyer if they plan to separate and live apart.
The decisions you make during your separation can have an impact on division of property later should you plan to divorce.
It’s Not Always Just About the Car
Right now, you might be focused on the car, especially if you and your former spouse share a vehicle, but the reality is that division of property in divorce or separation often involves more assets than just a car.
Some people share a family home, and others might own other significant assets that must be divided during divorce, like, for example, a retirement plan.
If you’re getting divorced, you might be entitled to alimony or may be required to pay alimony, which can also affect how assets are divided. Because it’s not always just about the car, many divorce settlements are negotiations. Division of property often involves negotiations that also consider your situation and what is equitable given your situation.
Your divorce lawyer will review your situation, determine what property is considered community property and which property is separate, and then trace the stake that each of you might have in community property.
Your divorce lawyer would also consider each partner’s contribution to the marriage, and whether alimony might be due. Once all these factors are considered, then you and your former partner can negotiate the division of property, assets, and debts.
Sometimes one partner might get the family home or family car in exchange for other assets or considerations involving alimony. Other times, assets can be divided equally.
Every situation is unique.
When it comes to dividing property, more divorcing couples are choosing mediation or the collaborative divorce process. With mediation or collaborative divorce, negotiations can take place in private, and with the assistance of your divorce lawyers.
When couples take their asset disputes to court, a judge might still order a couple to attend mediation to resolve their differences. Some couples choose to start with mediation or collaborative divorce to help them work through some of the most challenging questions that can arise in divorce without the hassle of taking property disputes to court.
If you aren’t sure who should get the family car or are concerned that your spouse will take your vehicle, you might want to reach out to the family lawyers in Seattle, Washington at Truce Law.
Our collaborative lawyers have helped divorcing couples work through some of the most challenging aspects of divorce, negotiate settlements that work for both parties, and find peaceful solutions.
This article is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Every situation is unique. For guidance specific to your circumstances, consult a licensed family law attorney in your area.