Houses, time-shares, artwork, pro-football season tickets all have their price tags, but don't rely on your spouse or your spouse's attorney to say what something is worth while preparing for divorce. Get an independent appraisal. And don't forget to tally up retirement assets and certain intangibles like your contribution to your spouse's business or career. You may find out that your marital assets are greater than you think.
DIVORCE AND REAL ESTATE - For most families, the home is the most valuable asset, but the appraisal you get will be the value if the property were sold. What if you want to keep the house? You may have to buy your spouse's share outright, refinance, trade off other assets for the house or agree to sell the house later - after the youngest child graduates from high school, for instance. If you want to keep the property, discuss with your spouse who pays the mortgage, taxes, insurance, repairs and other household expenses.
RETIREMENT ASSETS - Retirement plans and pensions are usually the second largest assets in most families after the family home, but most wives know little about such benefits. Find out.
If you are approaching age 62, you may want to delay your divorce for a year or two. If you have been married for at least 10 years and don't remarry, you may be eligible to collected Social Security based on your spouse's earnings or receive part of a military pension.
Pensions commonly are either benefit plans or defined contributions plans. In a benefit plan, the pension pays out a fixed amount of money to the employee between retirement and death. The money must be taken as a fixed stream of income, usually in monthly payments. A defined contributions plan is a separated employee account into which an employee pays. Upon retirement, the employee is entitled to the cumulative value. In case of divorce, the lump sum can be withdrawn, usually with a penalty, or paid out as a stream of income. Vested pensions, which cannot be lost if the employee quits before retirement, are also divisible in a divorce.
If you are the wife of a highly compensated executive, look for executive benefit plans or nonqualified compensation plans, designed to get around tax lawyers and potential buyouts or takeovers. These plans are easy to miss in normal discovery and may include supplemental retirement plans, special "top hat" benefits for the top two percent of employees and special trusts and annuities.
BUSINESS OR PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE - Not only are values hard to determine, but the spouse/owner may try to hide the true value. Hire an expert witness to assess the value of any business you or your spouse owns individually or jointly. Courts want to see financial statements, book value, capitalization of earnings and how much each of you contributed to the business. If you're a partner in a business with your spouse, you may find yourself forced to cooperate during and even after the divorce for the sake of the business.
LICENSES, DEGREES AND EDUCATION - If you live in Minnesota, New York and Wisconsin, professional licenses or degrees are considered marital property, particularly if you put your spouse through school or gave up your own career to advance your spouse's career. Most states prevent courts from considering such sheepskins as marital property, but they end up being an issue in divorce settlement negotiations anyway, because they represent present or future increased earnings.
