The collection of assets in a couple’s marital estate is as unique as the people who own them. When spouses decide to part ways, some collections of items may easily be dealt with as part of the couple’s property distribution because the items are much more important to one spouse than to the other. For example, you may want nothing to do with your spouse’s collection of antique tools, and your spouse may have no interest in your collection of Hummel figurines. In these situations, where spouses agree as to which of them should keep a particular item or group of items, an accurate assessment of the value of each item is often all that is needed for the items to be accounted for as part of the couple’s proposed property distribution.

Sometimes, items or collections of items are more difficult to divide. Couples who own art together often disagree about who should get to keep each piece. People buy art because it is beautiful or meaningful to them, and when two people choose a piece together to display in their home, it is often because both of them agree on its beauty or significance. Also, some pieces of art are very valuable, which can make them difficult to fit into the overall property distribution scheme because the end result must be “just and right”, which often means that each spouse receives roughly the same dollar amount worth of property.

Texas is a community property state, so both spouses have an ownership interest in the property and income that either of them acquired during the marriage. Some items, such as items that were owned by a spouse prior to the marriage or which were acquired by a spouse as a gift or inheritance may be considered that spouse’s separate property. Unless an item is specifically excluded from the couple’s collection of marital property because it can be classified as one spouse’s separate property, it will be disposed of through the property division process.

Divorcing couples who own art should take care to ensure that its disposition is handled properly. This includes working with a Texas Family Law Attorney who is skilled in handling property division issues. Another essential action step in dealing with the disposition of your art collection is making an inventory of the entire art collection, including information about when and how each piece was acquired and, of course, photographs and current appraisals for each piece.

Each divorcing couple has unique concerns in the area of property distribution. An experienced Texas Family Law Attorney can help you work through all of your property division concerns, whether your collection of marital property includes art, real estate, investment, retirement accounts, or other types of assets. To learn more about property division or other aspects of your Texas divorce, call attorney Alex Tyra today at (903) 753-7499. Alternatively, you may schedule a consultation by filling out a contact form on our website.