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Dividing credit card rewards in divorce
Dividing credit card rewards in divorce

Dividing credit card rewards in divorce

On Behalf of | Feb 3, 2023 | Family Law |

If you and your soon-to-be-ex are among those people who use your credit card membership rewards the minute you have enough saved up for a small kitchen appliance or a new robe, you’re probably not worried about dividing them in the divorce. However, if you’ve been saving them up for a big purchase or a first-class airline trip, you don’t want to exclude them in your property division negotiations.

Even if you’re not going to take that second honeymoon to the Caribbean you planned, you can use them to help furnish your new home or maybe take a short vacation after the divorce is over. Let’s look at how you can go about dividing these points, miles and rewards.

If your points are linked to joint credit cards, the easiest way to divide them may just be to let them stay with whoever keeps the card and puts it in their name. Even if a credit card company allows you to transfer or give rewards, there may be a fee.

They’re generally treated as marital property

Even if the rewards are on a credit card that’s only in one of your names, they’re probably considered marital property. Both of you likely benefited from purchases with the card (and therefore contributed to the rewards accumulated). An exception would be if one of you has a card you used only for your business expenses.

Another way some couples deal with a significant amount of rewards is to determine what each is worth. Then, whoever keeps the rewards from a particular card will give something of similar value to their spouse.

Before you spend too much time and energy on this, be sure it’s worth it. You’ve got plenty of other things to negotiate. You don’t want squabbles over credit card, airline, hotel or other rewards ruining an otherwise amicable divorce.

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