The thought of dividing your marital property in a divorce can quickly become overwhelming, especially if you have significant or complicated assets. Even before the division process can happen, you must first determine what you have to divide.
Certain types of assets are obvious, like a marital home, your cars and any retirement accounts you have. Others, however, can be easily overlooked.
For example, you may very well have the following types of property that can be eligible for division in a Texas divorce:
- Digital property, including websites, online stores and music libraries
- Dogs, cats and other pets, which are property in the eyes of the law
- Memberships to gyms, country clubs or golf clubs
- Credit card rewards
- Subscription services
- Personal property, like electronics and photographs
- Collectibles
- Intellectual property, including trademarks, copyrights and patents
These assets can have value and may be marital property that you must divide upon divorce, but parties can forget about them. These oversights can occur when people don’t think these items are significant in terms of who gets them or how much they are worth. However, they can still have an impact on your divorce.
How these assets can affect your divorce
If one or both divorcing spouses forget about these assets, conflicts can arise. There can be allegations of concealing property, and the realization that you will have to divide this property can derail or delay the legal process.
Parties can also find it challenging to come up with a valuation when an item is uncommon, intangible or sentimental. If parties cannot agree on ownership or value of unusual or seemingly trivial properties, litigation can become unavoidable.
Therefore, it is crucial to take a comprehensive look at your property if you are going to divorce and make a list. If you are unsure of what you have or whether it should be addressed in your divorce, you can talk to your attorney. When you are careful and diligent from the beginning, you can make the rest of the property division process easier for everyone.