Los Angeles, CA family law attorney Robyn Santucci talks about how marital property divided in a divorce. Once she is clear on what constitutes community or marital property—meaning she has characterized the assets as either separate or community—the process becomes more straightforward. After determining the character of the property and identifying the community property to be divided in half, the next steps are relatively simple, depending on the type of asset involved.

Her focus shifts to determining whether the property is community or separate and establishing its value to understand what will be divided. Since each party must receive 50% of the community property, she needs to calculate what that 50% amounts to in financial terms. Depending on the nature of the assets, she may need to engage experts, such as appraisers, to assess the property’s value or accountants to calculate the division. Ultimately, her goal is to ensure an equal division of the community property.