In Tennessee, courts are required to equitably divide marital property between the parties in a divorce. The court will usually attempt to determine the value of all marital property and then attempt to determine the proper division of that property. Tennessee is a dual property state as opposed to an all property state. In a dual property state, the court may only divide property this is considered marital property.
Once the marital property is identified, the court will determine the division of the property based on eleven factors set forth in the divorce statutes. In the vast majority of divorce cases, the equitable division of marital property between the parties is a simple process of dividing the property in half. In other words, in most cases the court will make a 50/50 division between the parties. Nonetheless, there are situations where the court will be forced to consider the equities and make other than an equal division of the property.