Property Division of Lottery Contributions in Divorce: Equitable Division of Non-matrimonial Property in Divorce

The U.S. has a fair division of marital property (community property), while the U.K. has a basically equal division. In particular, the United Kingdom does not recognize the division of non-matrimonial property, but in exceptional cases, non-matrimonial property may be considered as marital property and divided, but the division is based on equity, not equal division. Thus, sharing and needs principles are considered together. Our jurisprudence generally does not consider non-matrimonial property to be subject to division, but recognizes it in special circumstances. In other words, our jurisprudence holds that special property is subject to division even if it belongs to one of the spouses, if the other party has actively cooperated in its maintenance, prevented its deterioration or contributed to its increase. While this may be a good choice for the specific justification of protecting the other spouse, it goes beyond the function of property division, and clearly our civil law is based on a separate property system, and the easy inclusion of personal property as property subject to division would undermine the separate property system. Put it in a nutshell, only in cases where the contribution to the formation of wealth is effectively wiped out, which can be assessed as significantly contrary to socially accepted equity, should non-matrimonial property be considered for division.