Navigating Divorce as an Artist: Your Former Spouse May Have an Interest in your Art

From the Editors: For those interested in the mechanics of splitting marital property of non artists, read our article "good Art Ungly Divorce."

By Nikki Vafai

Remnants of a crumbling marriage, the marital property left behind create tough and personal questions for often revenge-filled couples. Who gets to benefit from a medical or legal degree, who keeps the wedding gifts, and who gets to hold on to the art made during the marriage? Divorce is certainly made more complicated when one spouse is an artist. In such situations, the art created by a spouse during the marriage is not handled in the same manner as a work of art that was acquired by the couple during the marriage through purchase or gift, for example.

In the United States, the way in which artwork created by an artist going through divorce is divided depends on the laws of the state in which the divorce is filed as well as the type of jurisdiction that state has. There are two types of jurisdiction a state could have: community property jurisdictions and equitable distribution jurisdictions. In community property states, income or property acquired by one spouse belongs to both spouses and is equally divided between the spouses. This includes art created by a spouse during marriage. However, the majority of states are equitable distribution jurisdictions, which means that property is fairly distributed between spouses. Courts determine how to divide the property equitably based on a number of factors which vary depending on the state but can include the length of the marriage, each spouse’s income, and the value of the property.