The equitable distribution statutes only give trial courts the authority to distribute marital property. This means equitable distribution is all about – and only about – identifying property owned by either or both spouses on the date of separation and determining how it should be distributed between those two people.
Marital property may include ownership interests in businesses and corporations. Just as parties can own stock in a traditional C corporation, parties also can own an LLC or an interest in an LLC. And just as a court would not be required to join, for example, Exon Corporation or Google before distributing stock owned by the parties, a court is not required to join an LLC in an ED case if the court simply distributes the marital ownership interest in the LLC between the parties.