There are a lot of moving pieces in a divorce, and each of them needs to be addressed appropriately. In doing so, you need to have your eyes on both your short- and long-term goals. This can be especially important when it comes to dealing with property division. After all, divorce is a major financial transaction. If you don’t fight for your best interests, your spouse can take advantage of you.
But whether you hope to negotiate a property division settlement or fight in court for what you deserve, you need to start by knowing not only which assets will be subjected to division, but also the value of those assets.
Assets to keep in mind
Some assets, like bank and retirement accounts, are easy to put a price on. Others are not. The value of artwork and jewelry, for example, can be heavily dependent upon the market for those goods as well as their condition. Appraising businesses, too, can be more complex to value given depreciation and expected growth in years to come. To accurately appraise these items then, you’ll probably need an expert appraiser to analyze the asset in question.
Appraising assets
Appraising pieces of personal property and businesses requires a little bit of subjectivity, though, which leaves the matter open to legal arguments. Your spouse might even have their own appraiser in hopes of contradicting the value of assets as appraised by your expert. In other words, figuring out what to do with valuable pieces of personal property and a business can be a highly contentious process.
As a result, you need to prepare yourself in a way that maximizes your chances of obtaining an outcome that furthers your financial interests. If you’d like to learn more about how to build a compelling case to do so, it might be time to talk with an experienced attorney about your circumstances.