Most aspects of a divorce can be challenging, but property division discussions can be particularly tough — especially when the accumulation of your assets has been gradual (and considerable) during your marriage.
Assessing the value of your shared assets may prove challenging. Situations like this may call for the introduction of an appraiser into the mix.
Why an appraisal of your marital home is essential
You have several options when deciding what to do with your family’s house as you look to finalize your divorce. One of you can continue living in it and take over the mortgage, or you both can move out, sell the property and split the profits from the sale.
If one of you wishes to remain in the home, you may need to introduce an appraiser into the mix to determine the home’s value. That way, you can determine exactly how much equity the home actually has — and what sort of value exchange one of you needs to make to buy out the other’s half.
Special collections should also be handled by an appraiser
Sometimes one spouse may have put a lot of the marital assets into a valuable collection of some sort — like stamps, coins, sports memoribilia, art or books. When the marriage ends, the collection they view as “theirs” is likely marital property — which means that it’s value has to be determined. That’s the only way to determine how to fairly compensate the other spouse.
Any family business will definitely need valuated
Determining the value of a family business isn’t easy. There’s often an office building, equipment and furniture to assess the value of. A company’s revenues may be significantly less than they appear on paper. Partnership cuts, accounts receivable, and others may impact a company’s worth. So too may market fluctuations. An appraiser will often look at past financial records and future projections when appraising the value of a family business.
Ensuring you get a fair financial shake in your divorce
Colorado is an equitable distribution state, which means that judges aim to approve property division agreements that seem fair instead of 50-50 ones. What constitutes a “fair” agreement can seem a bit abstract. An attorney can help you make sense of what it means and how to protect your financial interests best.
