Virtually all humans collect. Whether it be ticket stubs, baseball cards, or celebrity bobble heads, everyone, at one time or another, has collected something. In most cases, the value of one’s collection is not monetary but entirely emotional. In other cases, a collection can be exceedingly valuable. The human predisposition for collecting can sometimes lead to difficulties in the context of a divorce. Say for example, your husband is an avid sports fan who has collected everything from a football signed by Archie Griffith to a Wheaties box bearing the likeness of Pete Rose. How do you deal with the emotion and money invested in these items?
Oftentimes collectibles are valuable only to the collector. A few boxes of opened sports cards or cracked bobble heads often have no real marketable value except what someone might pay for them at a garage sale. So, the first step in dealing with collectibles upon divorce is to determine whether the issue is worth fighting about. Since, in divorce, personal property is valued at its resale value, not its retail or acquisition value, making an issue of collectibles often inflames the proceedings and increases attorney’s fees for no real economic gain. Additionally, if the collectibles were brought into the marriage or received by one spouse as gifts during the marriage, then the collectibles may not even be community property and therefore not subject to division by the family court.
If the assessment is that the collectibles do have value, then the next question to answer is “to whom?” Which spouse is most attached to the collectibles? If both parties are attached to the collectibles, then the family court can dispose of the items in a couple of ways. One way is as simple as two boys dividing a bag of marbles. The couple flips a coin and the party winning the toss gets first pick. The parties take turns picking the items from the collection until all of the items have been chosen.
Another way of dividing the items is through the preparation of what family law practitioners call an “A/B list.” In this method, one party makes two lists which together comprise all of the parties’ collectibles. The other spouse will choose one of the two lists and receive all of the items on the chosen list. The other party will receive all the items on the list not chosen. The A/B List method is designed to ensure that both lists are relatively equal in value.
If, on the other hand, the collectibles are more valuable to one spouse than the other, then that spouse may be inclined to maintain possession of the items and buy out the other parties’ interest. Oftentimes, the threat of the collection’s liquidation might result in one spouse making a reasonable monetary offer to the other spouse to retain the collection intact. If such an offer is not forthcoming, then the collectibles will need to be appraised. Appraisals, however, can be cost prohibitive and may even exceed the value of the collection itself.
The final method of dividing collectibles upon divorce is to sell them. As far as value is concerned, a sale of the collectibles might be the most efficient but least cost effective way to dispose of the collection. Collector shops and galleries will never provide the parties with a fraction of the price they originally paid for the item and consignment agencies typically take a 40% plus cut of any items sold.
In the end, it is best to be reasonable when dealing with the disposition of collectibles upon divorce. Family court judges loathe disputes over personal property and have very little patience in dealing with such issues. In this light, it is best to approach collectibles with an attitude of good faith and not press advantage when the only value attached to an item is sentimental.