Community property vs. equitable distribution
Almost every money question in a divorce runs through one state-level rule: how your state classifies and divides what a married couple owns. There are two systems, and only two. You do not need fifty state guides; you need to know which of these two pages describes your state, and every calculator on this site adjusts to it with one dropdown.
Community property states
Nine states: Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin. Property acquired during the marriage is presumed to belong to both spouses equally, so the starting point is a 50/50 split.
Equitable distribution states
The other 41 states and the District of Columbia. Courts divide marital property by what is fair in the circumstances, which is often near equal but does not have to be. Our calculators show a range there, not a single number.
See the rule applied to real numbers: the Marital Share Estimator asks for your state and shows your indicative share of a 401(k) or pension under your state's system.