In North Carolina, marital property is defined as: All real and personal property acquired by either spouse or both spouses during the course of the marriage and before the date of the separation of the parties, and presently owned, except property determined to be separate property or divisible property in accordance with subdivision (2) or (4) of this subsection. . . . It is presumed that all property acquired after the date of marriage and before the date of separation is marital property . . . . This presumption may be rebutted by the greater weight of the evidence. N.C. Gen. Stat. 50-20(b)(1) (2007). In White v. White, 312 N.C. 770, 324 S.E.2d 829 (1985), the North Carolina Supreme Court set forth the standard of review for equitable distribution awards: Historically our trial courts have been granted wide discretionary powers concerning domestic law cases. the legislature also clearly intended to vest trial courts with discretion in distributing marital property under N.C.G.S. 50-20, but guided always by the public policy expressed therein favoring an equal division. the legislative intent to vest our trial courts with such broad discretion is emphasized by the inclusion of the catch-all factor codified in N.C.G.S. 50-20(c)(12). It is well established that where matters are left to the discretion of the trial court, appellate review is limited to a determination of whether there was a clear abuse of discretion. a trial court may be reversed for abuse of discretion only upon a showing that its actions are manifestly unsupported by reason. a ruling committed to a trial court's discretion is to be accorded great deference and will be upset only upon a showing that it was so arbitrary that it could not have been the result of a reasoned decision. Id. at 777, 324 S.E.2d at 833.