When couples divorce, one of the biggest issues a court must resolve is how to divide marital property and debts between the spouses.

These considerations incorporate all tangible assets, real property (such as a house, or other land ownership), and finances that the couple accumulated while married, including bank accounts, stocks, bonds, retirement accounts, and investments, and even, debt.

New York breaks this process down into three basic steps: 1) Classification; 2) Valuation; and 3) Division.