“Property” includes both assets and debts. All assets and debts acquired during the marriage, and owned on the date of separation, are valued as of the date of separation in North Carolina for purposes of calculating the net value of the marital estate.
If the net value of the marital property is $100,000, applying the 50/50 presumption leads to each spouse’s receiving property worth a total of $50,000. If, on the other hand, the marital property has a negative net value of, say, minus $20,000 because of large debts that outweigh the spouses’ positive assets, then applying the presumption leads to each spouse’s receiving property worth a total of negative $10,000.
