Where one party to a divorce has contributed disproportionately to the marital estate, especially following a short-term marriage, he or she may properly receive a disproportionate division of the marital estate to offset his or her superior contribution to the marital assets.
The purpose of a property division incident to divorce is an equitable, not equal division of the marital estate. A court may identify one party's superior or inferior contribution, and proportionately divide assets in order to equitably recompense the parties for their role in the marital partnership.1 Contribution to the marital partnership is the guidepost for equitable division of the marital assets. 2
A judge has broad discretion in both valuing the relative contributions of each spouse, and distributing the marital estate equitably. A judge may consider, the source of the assets, each parties' role in managing the assets, and whether the assets in question had been kept separate or commingled with the couple's jointly owned property.3 To that end, disparate contribution may give rise to an unequal division, and a court should give credit to the party responsible for the acquisition, preservation or appreciation of assets such as real property.4
For example, the court may give some consideration to the fact that one party purchased the property using pre-marital funds, and this is especially true in short-term marriages.5 A court may also order disproportionate division of gifts received individually by one party where the gift is found to have appreciated solely through the efforts of that party. 6 Reciprocally, a court may assign liabilities to the spouse who was profligate in incurring debts.7 
In other words, a spouse may receive credit in a divorce for his or her investment in the marriage, provided he or she is able to establish the investment is solely attributable to that spouse. Divorcing spouses who are seeking credit for their superior contribution to the acquisition of real estate should obtain evidence that their separate funds were applied to the purchase the property. This can include bank records or other documentation evidencing the source of the funds used for the purchase are from one spouse's pre-marital and/or separate funds.
1 Rhodes v. Rhodes, 74 Mass. App. Ct. 1117 (2009).
2 Moriarty v. Stone, 41 Mass. App. Ct. 151, 157 (1996)
3 Williams v. Massa, 431 Mass. 619, 627 (2000)
4 Rhodes, 74 Mass. App. Ct. 1117 (2009); Handrahan v. Handrahan, 28 Mass. App. Ct. 167 (1989).
5 See Redding v. Redding, 398 Mass. 102 (1986).
6 Johnson v. Johnson, 22 Mass.App.Ct. 955, 956 (1986).
7 Duckett v. Duckett, 27 Mass. App. Ct. 1164 (1989).
