For a reason never articulated by our appellate courts, debts incurred during a marriage are treated very differently in equitable distribution than is property. While public policy – codified as the marital property presumption found in GS 50-20(b) – is to include all property acquired during the marriage in the marital estate unless it is shown to fit within one of the limited categories of separate property, debt incurred during the marriage is excluded from the marital estate unless a party can prove the debt was incurred for the joint benefit of the parties.

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