When you decide to divorce, you should come to grips with the fact that you aren’t able to keep all the assets you accumulated during your marriage. Instead, these will be divided between you and your ex-spouse.
Since this can be a sticking point of any divorce, you need to get organized and remain organized to ensure that the process progresses as smoothly as possible. One of the many ways of doing so is by creating a property division checklist.
With a checklist, you’ll have a clear understanding of all assets, including which ones are marital and which ones are separate.
Here are the types of categories you can use when creating a property division checklist:
- Personal property: cars, boats, rugs, antiques, furniture, electronics, collections, home office equipment and jewelry
- Real property: marital home, rental property and undeveloped land.
- Financial assets: cash on hand, bank accounts, retirement accounts, stocks and bonds, profit sharing, pensions, annuities, trusts and life insurance cash values
- Business assets: commercial real estate, equipment and any general business interests
These are the four primary categories you can use to create a property division checklist, as well as a basic idea of the type of assets to include in each one. A checklist doesn’t guarantee you’ll never run into trouble, but it at least puts you on the right track from the start.
As you move through your divorce, there will come a time when you’ll have to negotiate on these items with your ex-spouse. With an open mind and knowledge of your legal rights, you should be able to do so with success.