It is critically important to be as proactive as you can when preparing to divide your marital estate in the wake of a decision to divorce. By being as proactive as you can, you’ll place yourself in the best possible position to achieve a divorce settlement that is as fair as it can be.

Determining Value

If you haven’t been married long and the assets you acquired during your marriage are primarily household goods, determining the rough value of this property may not take too much effort. However, if you have been married a long time, have complex financial assets, and/or own property that is likely to significantly appreciate or depreciate over time, the job of valuing your property is going to be much tougher. As a result, you’re going to want to speak with an attorney as soon as you can about securing a proper valuation of your total marital estate. Without this valuation (and the valuation of significant assets individually) the job of splitting those assets up evenly will be virtually impossible.

Splitting Assets Equally

Once your marital estate has been valued overall, you’ll cut that number in half to arrive at the value of assets that you and your spouse must each be awarded upon the conclusion of your divorce. You’ll then be able to take each major asset’s value into account when deciding to make an asset part of your award, your spouse’s award, or something you both want to sell in order to split the profits. You may also be in a position to have one spouse take more value in assets and to pay the other spousal support to make up that difference.