Friend-Novorska v. Novorska

HORTON, Judge.

In 1981, the North Carolina General Assembly “sought to alleviate the unfairness of the common law [title theory] rule by enacting our Equitable Distribution Act.... Equitable distribution reflects the idea that marriage is a partnership enterprise to which both spouses make vital contributions . . . .” White v. White, 312 N.C. 770, 774-75, 324 S.E.2d 829, 831-32 (1985). “[T]he statute is a legislative enactment of public policy so strongly favoring the equal division of marital property that an equal division is made mandatory ‘unless the court determines that an equal division…