Money, Cars, Personal Effects, Investments and Life Assurance Policies and household contents, business interests
General Overview
In most cases you will be required to place a value over both your own assets, joint assets and assets that you believe you partner owns. This will enable you to compare the position and the value that your partner places on the same assets and negotiate accordingly. It should be noted that there are special considerations that apply to the matrimonial home and to pensions which are covered on separate pages in this site. You will need to be as accurate and fair as you can. Making inaccurate assumptions or purely "guessing" as to the value of a particular asset can only lead to dispute and incur additional costs in valuing the assets accurately.
Business Assets
It is really down to the nature of the business and the likely continuation of the business that will affect your approach to the business. Be it a partnership or a private limited company (visit Business Adviser.com for more on this) it may be that the two parties have worked together within the business and therefore, it may be that one will have to leave. Very few couples, post divorce are able to work together. Valuing the business is another matter. One party may wish to buy out the other party's share or the value may be offset against other assets from within the marriage. One thing is sure though, it cannot be of benefit to any party for the business to fail or for a valuation to be placed so highly that it would leave the company insolvent if the share was to be bought back. The continuation of the business may be an important factor not just in the area of being able to earn and therefore pay any maintenance but also other parties may be affected e.g. any employees.
How do you value a business?
This can be difficult as there are many areas that will need to be considered such as any property owned, stock, goodwill or future development of the business. It is recommended that you seek professional help from an accountant in valuing your business. It may be that your valuation differs from that of your spouse, in these cases it may be worthwhile seeking valuation from an independent third party adviser, the appointment of which is agreed by both sides.
Household contents and personal effects including cars
Where children are not involved - a sensible and careful approach needs to be taken with regard to these assets. It should be borne in mind that if there is a dispute over these items, the legal costs involved in resolving the matter may be disproportionate to the value of the items. The courts can ultimately order that all items are sold and the cash value shared - although this is rare as both the market value and sentimental value of certain items may never be obtained.
Adopting a rational and fair approach may be as follows: Ensure that each party has their own personal effects, that each party takes their own assets that they had before or brought into the marriage, identify assets that each party uses on a regular basis and will need e.g. a car and offset that against the value of other assets. A simple, but useful solution may be that each party draws up a list of the things that they require and compare lists - a lot of what one party requires may be different from the other, hopefully reaching an agreement a lot quicker.
Where children are involved - it is likely in these circumstances that much of the contents and other assets within the home will be left as the children's interests are put first and will be required. Even if there is a dispute over this, the courts are likely to put in place an order to ensure that the children's interests are to the fore. The spouse moving out may have to leave virtually everything behind.
Investments and Life Assurance Policies
Care should be taken when valuing any investment or life policy. Some do not have any cash value (such as term assurance policies), others have lower values and early surrender penalties if cashed in, others have special bonuses that attach only at the end of the policy - so they may be worth more than they appear to be. Some may lose significant tax benefits if they are cashed in early or the premiums are altered. You should seek professional advice as to valuing savings and investment assets, contact us for help.
Pensions
Pensions are not covered on this page but you or your ex-partner may be entitled to a share of any pension arrangements. Visit Divorce and Pensions.com for more on this together with help to value pensions.
If you have life assurance cover, or your partner does, what happens upon divorce? Some or all of this protection may be lost. A careful review of finances should be done both before and after divorce. From a maintenance point of view, it may be that the majority of this is paid in respect of children. Have you insured your children? If something unfortunate happened to your children then a source of income, i.e. maintenance may stop immediately. Visit Life Cover Adviser.com for more on family protection.
Other Property
Generally, other property not mentioned above may not have the constraints or other difficulties placed on them when looking at re-distribution. There are then simple ways at looking at the remaining assets such as sharing equally based on the net value of such assets. If it is cash or the cash equivalent value of such assets it is fairly easy for the courts to issue a lump sum order or for parties to agree themselves. Courts may also issue orders for the transfer of such assets if they are not easily saleable.