Creating An Inventory Before Property Division May Be Helpful

Over the course of your life, you have likely accumulated various items. Some may have come about out of necessity, and others may have simply been objects you desired. After you married, the accumulation of assets likely continued, perhaps with some major purchases taking place.

Now that you are getting divorced, you may worry about what will happen with those assets that have come into your possession over the years. Some big-ticket items like your marital home may be of particular concern, but you may also wonder about what will happen to your smaller, sentimental items. Because Kansas is an equitable division state, your marital assets will be divided as fairly as possible.

Do you know your assets and liabilities?

When it comes to property division, it is important to keep in mind that it is not just your assets that the court will split. You will also need to account for any debt and other liabilities you may have and estimate how much debt you could end up with after the divorce.

You may also want to go over which assets you may want to keep and which you may feel more comfortable with letting go. Of course, making these decisions in your mind does not mean that you will see the same outcomes in your court order. Still, you may want to consider your various assets, which could include the following examples:

• Marital home
• Business property
• Other real estate
• Artwork
• Vehicles
• Electronic devices
• Collectibles
• Personal items
• Antiques
• Family heirlooms
• Bank accounts
• Cash outside of bank accounts
• Pensions
• Retirement accounts
• Savings accounts
• Other financial accounts
• Any business assets

By creating an inventory of these and other similar items, you may be better able to visualize what will be at stake during your property division proceedings.

Working toward your desired outcomes

Again, just because you have an idea of what you want to keep, it does not mean that you will end up with those items. However, having this idea may give you the opportunity to create a plan to work from in efforts to reach as many of your desired outcomes as possible. 

You may want to go over the assets you want to keep, what you are willing to part with, how you could negotiate and other matters with a divorce attorney. This legal professional can explain how state laws may affect your case and how negotiations may go.