When entering a marriage, you bring your personal and financial history to the table. You and your spouse can be coming in with separate property, which is common especially for a midlife marriage. For example, you have a few children, some real estate and/or a small business. The lines can get blurry later into the relationship. Your spouse's name is added to a property title that was once solely yours, or you have been added to their will. Joint accounts and all, it raises the question: "What is mine and what is yours?"
Virginia marital property laws consider "marital property" to be all property you and/or spouse has acquired after the date of the marriage. Virginia recognizes "separate property" as property owned by only you. Property purchased before the marriage, property acquired as a gift before the marriage, or property purchased during the marriage with income earned before the marriage is all considered separate property. Differentiating marital property and separate property can sometimes get complicated. You can take certain measures to keep your property separate no matter the circumstance.
