Prioritizing their most valuable assets is common practice when couples divorce. High-asset couples with extensive marital estates may focus their negotiation efforts on investments, real property, vehicles and other highly valuable assets.
Generally speaking, any resources acquired during marriage are subject to equitable distribution under state property division statutes. The marital estate even includes any collections that spouses may have developed together.
Maybe they bought a bottle of wine every time they went out for a date and always put a spare in the wine cellar. Perhaps they have slowly accumulated a collection of fine art that decorates their home. The collections that spouses acquired together can contribute substantially to their overall marital assets.
The value of the collection is what matters
Frequently, spouses waste time, energy and money by becoming emotional and fighting over assets that hold some kind of significance for them. While retaining possessions that have emotional value is important, looking at the situation objectively is also necessary.
Spouses may need to create lists of their collections and then look into the fair market value of their marital assets. In some cases, individual works of art or other unique collectibles could be worth thousands of dollars. Focusing primarily on accounting for the value of those resources rather than on the emotional validation of retaining them is often the best strategy when preparing for divorce proceedings.
Looking into shared collections and other personal property can be important in addition to pushing for fair solutions for particularly high-value assets. Equitable property division during a high-asset divorce requires insight into the overall marital estate to achieve a fair outcome.