The Role of Appraisals in Equitable Distribution of Marital Assets
You can tell how messy a divorce is by counting the number of witnesses summoned at the trial. The couples with the ugliest divorces disagree about every aspect, great and small, of their marriage. To settle the score, they might summon a forensic accountant to testify about the value of the assets that the husband keeps in a trust or LLC that the wife did not know about until recently. Physicians and vocational counselors may testify about what kinds of work the wife can do in her current state of health and how much money she can reasonably expect to earn while doing it. Even when the divorce is not so messy that numerous people must weigh in on which spouse’s vision of the couple’s finances has more verisimilitude, the parties might disagree about the value of certain marital assets; even if they agree as to which spouse will keep the asset, it is still important to assess its value accurately because this determines how much the other spouse gets as an equalizing payment. It also matters because the court must calculate each spouse’s net worth in order to determine alimony or child support amounts. For help finalizing a divorce case where there is uncertainty about the value of the couple’s marital assets, contact a Boca Raton divorce lawyer.
Appraising Valuable Assets Before You File Your Divorce Petition Can Help You Keep the Peace
An appraisal is a professional opinion about the current resale value of an asset. Homeowners get their houses appraised before listing them for sale, and the buyer gets the house appraised again before closing on the sale. If you are getting divorced, you should get your house appraised, whether you plan to sell it and divide the proceeds, or whether one spouse is keeping the house and refinancing the mortgage as a single borrower.
Other assets you should professionally appraise during your divorce are assets that quickly fluctuate in value. These include business ownership interests, stocks, and memorabilia. If a divorce case takes a long time, you might need to get an appraisal to show how the value of the asset has changed since you filed the divorce petition.
The court might order the appraisal of an asset if the parties disagree about its value when they submit their financial disclosures. If you plan to get an uncontested divorce, then you and your spouse should contact the appraiser yourselves before you submit the divorce petition. Getting a professional appraisal of marital assets can be part of the collaborative divorce process, where the parties hire lawyers to work out a marital settlement agreement outside of court before filing an uncontested divorce petition.
Contact Schwartz | White About Appraising the Value of Marital Assets
A South Florida family law attorney can help you present accurate accounts of the value of your marital property, even when this means getting it professionally appraised. Contact Schwartz | White in Boca Raton, Florida about your case.
Source:
citybuzz.co/2025/08/18/the-critical-role-of-divorce-appraisals-in-floridas-equitable-asset-division/
