Marital property question: who gets the gun?

Question:

I purchased a firearm while I was married to my wife. It is registered in my name and now that we are divorcing, she wants it.

Is my gun considered my personal property or is it marital property subject to division?

Answer: 

In Oklahoma (where I practice) and other states, property obtained during the marriage is marital property unless it is a gift, was inherited, or was purchased with separate funds (funds that were gifted or inherited and not commingled with marital funds).

If the gun was purchased with marital funds, it is marital property and subject to the jurisdiction of the court and an equitable distribution upon divorce. It does not matter that the gun was registered in only your name if the gun was purchased with marital funds.

Equitable distribution does not mean everything has to be divided exactly in half – it merely means that the division of property needs to be fair given the circumstances of the parties. In a valuation of your marital estate, you may be able to “exchange” this piece of marital property for another piece of marital property of roughly equal value.

For more information on this topic or to obtain specific answers to your situation based on your facts and circumstances contact an attorney in your jurisdiction. Please be advised that my answering of this question does not constitute an attorney-client relationship.

Cordell & Cordell has men’s divorce lawyers located nationwide.

 

Katherine V. Lewis is an Associate Attorney in the Tulsa, Oklahoma office of Cordell & Cordell where she practices family law exclusively with a focus on men’s divorce. Ms. Lewis is licensed in the state of Oklahoma. Ms. Lewis received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology and a minor in history from the University of Oklahoma. She then continued her education to receive her Juris Doctor from the University of Oklahoma College of Law.

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3 comments on “Marital property question: who gets the gun?

    My husband and I purchased a gun during our marriage but it is only registered in my name. We are working out division of property, etc. for our divorce and I really do not care to have the gun. My only concern is do I need to make sure it is no longer registered to me or how do I address this issue in our divorce papers?

    How about Texas
    I noticed you practice in OK. On my second divorce like the first, a temp restraining order was filed, first to establish child support, so that I couldn’t afford to hire an attorney to defend myself, and secondly to allow her unfettered access to all of our and my belongings. She sold everything I had even those things that I had originally brought to the marriage (owned prior to). I ask the local law enforcement to help, but they told me it was a civil matter. In other words nothing I could do about it, even though the temp order stated that she could not sell any belongings until the final order had been rendered. All this happened in Texas. I was born and raised here and I HATE this state for that!

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