New York is an equitable distribution State, as opposed to a community property State.  In general terms, in community property States, marital property is automatically split equally between divorcing parties.  The concept of equitable distribution strives to fairly distribute the marital property of parties in a divorce.  Marital property is all assets and liabilities acquired by either or both parties during the marriage (with some exceptions).  Marital property for division during a divorce can take many different forms - tangible property with a current day value such as a house, property with a future value such as a pension or intangible property such as one party's increased earning capacity resulting from a degree or license obtained during the marriage.

The only property that a Court distributes in a divorce is marital property.  Seperate property, property brought into the marriage by one party, is inherited by one party or is received by one party as proceeds of a personal injury suit, remains that party's own property (with some limitations).  However, separate property can become marital property by being mixed with marital property.

Also, an increase in the value of separate property can be considered marital property, in whole or in part, depending on the circumstances how that increase in value came to be.

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