My question involves a marriage in the state of: Washington.

Hi there. I am in the initial stages of a divorce that will hopefully be uncontested. But in case it becomes contested, I need to think about issues related to the division of assets. Right now I am trying to decide what to put on the form that asks the date the marital community ended. Should it be now, or should it be when we separated?

After a 10.5 year marriage, my husband (green card holder, now living in WA) and I (U.S. citizen) separated 6 years ago while living overseas. I subsequently moved to Washington state 3 years ago. When I separated from my husband, I had a very healthy level of savings (I was the breadwinner, cook, cleaner, primary child carer, he never worked during our entire marriage, judge that as you will). Since then, my savings have declined significantly due to time off as a stay at home mother, and moving to a more child-friendly career.

During an initial consultation with a lawyer recently, he suggested that as regards the division of assets, the community property laws in Washington might not fully apply in my case. He asked me where I accumulated those assets -- it was while working in another U.S. state and in another country. He suggested the laws of those locations would be relevant. I checked those laws and neither are community property states/countries. They both acknowledge the relative contributions of the parties to the marriage (mine was much greater both financially and in terms of making the home), and reference the cause of the dissolution (in our case, an affair on his part).

Can anyone tell me if the lawyer is correct that laws in the two locations where I accumulated my savings are of relevance here? If so, is it definitive or is it just a factor for consideration? Would Washington community property laws even come into it given that the savings were never accumulated here?

Thank you so much for your assistance - I know this is a rather complex question!