Empowering Families

I’m in my home office today, which is the perfect place to talk about the next step in unboxing your divorce: dealing with personal property. This includes everything from furniture, jewelry, and clothing to shoes and other personal possessions—like the ones you see behind me.

Many people wonder what they’re going to do about these items, and I’m here to guide you through it. I’m Katherine Miller, founder of the Miller Law Group, and I’ve been a divorce attorney in New York City and New York State for over 30 years. A common concern during divorce is how personal property will be divided. So, let’s dive into what the process looks like both legally and practically.

Legally, most of the possessions acquired during the marriage are considered marital property. This means you have the right to divide them between your two homes. However, these items also have a monetary value, and the division can sometimes get tricky. For example, you might not want to split a dining room set by giving one person the chairs and the other the table.

One approach is to divide the items informally, deciding together who gets what. This can work well for many people, but challenges arise when one person is left with significantly less. In such cases, how should they be compensated for leaving most of the furniture behind?

Now, let’s talk about the value of these items. In divorce, the value of your belongings isn’t based on what you paid for them but on what they would sell for now. This means that whether you bought your furniture at Ikea, a high-end store, or had it custom-made, the value is assessed as if you were purchasing it at an estate sale. You can estimate this value by checking sites like eBay, or you can hire an appraiser, though that can be costly. I generally recommend trying to work it out between yourselves if possible.

Gifts can be a little tricky, too. Even though you might think a gift—like a ring or a watch—is solely yours, it’s actually considered marital property. The value of these items, again, is based on their current sale value, not what they originally cost. Many people create a list of valuable items and negotiate a fair trade-off, but you can also opt for an appraisal to help divide these assets.

I’ve put together a PDF called “People Sizing Divorce” that simplifies many of the concepts I’ve discussed in this unboxing divorce series. If you’d like a copy, click on this link. Thanks for listening!