Division Of Personal Items & Your Divorce Attorney
If you’re going through the divorce process, then there will come a point where you and your ex-spouse need to decide who gets what. All those CDs you bought together? The TV? The bed? Who gets all these things?
Liquidate Your Possessions?
Sometimes the divorce courts will require the divorcing parties to liquidate their assets so that they can be split. Sometimes one party will buy the other’s share of whatever asset is in dispute.
Whilst liquidating and splitting the asset like this might be feasible with large and expensive assets like land, houses, 401ks and the like, it’s hardly going to work with your TV (unless you have a pretty special TV, of course…).
Bring In The Divorce Attorney?
Your divorce attorney is there to help you, but his or her job is not to divide the blankets and towels. Whilst some divorce attorneys will be more than happy to bill you for their time in sorting out this minor issues, they are a very, very expensive option.
Leave the lawyers and attorneys to sort out the law and make sure you file forms correctly and on time. Leave them out of disputes over minor items that – more than likely – will descend into bickering.
Ideally…
Ideally the final divorce agreement will say something to the effect of
The parties will each retain ownership of all personal effects currently in their possession
and that will be that. Of course the essential ingredient required for this to work is that the possessions have already been divided, and are with their owners. The parties must have come to some kind of agreement – or an impasse – where they are not too embittered about losing their favorite teddy bear.
If You Can, Be Reasonable
There has to be some give and take in these situations. Is the kitchen table worth arguing over for an hour? Do you really want to add more stress to a stressful situation by arguing over these little things? Reach a compromise and move on. You might not get the vacuum cleaner you want, but you got the work bench, so that’s ok, Move on to the next part of your life, and buy another vacuum cleaner!
Oh, and don’t get your attorney involved…
