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Monetary Award
Maryland is an equitable distribution state.
A court may order a monetary award so that the parties each take a
fair, or equitable, portion of the marital property. Marital property is any property acquired
by one or both parties during the marriage.
Marital property does not include (1) property that was
acquired prior to the marriage; (2) property that was inherited or gifted
from a third party; (3) property that is directly traceable to a gift or
inheritance from a third party or any pre-marriage acquisition; or (4) any
property that is excluded by a valid agreement between the parties.
The Court considers a list
of factors to determine whether to make a monetary award and for how
much. Factors include:
1.
Monetary and non monetary contributions of each spouse;
2.
Value of property interests belonging to the parties;
3.
Economic circumstances of the parties;
4.
Circumstances leading to the breakdown of the marriage;
5.
Length of the marriage;
6.
Ages of the parties;
7.
Ability to work;
8.
The means used to acquire marital property;
9.
Whether one or both of the parties owns non-marital
property, and the value of each party’s respective ownership; and
10.
Other appropriate considerations given the specific
situation for the parties.
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