Minnesota residents are not immune to the possibility of getting a divorce. However, the complexity of a divorce case depends significantly on the details involved. For instance, if you have a considerable amount of wealth or valuable or unusual assets, your case could end up more complex than others.
Unfortunately, asset division commonly becomes one of the more contentious areas of ending a marriage. When significant assets are involved, you could end up facing long negotiations or, ultimately, a judge’s decision about how to divide your marital property. Because the state follows equitable distribution laws, a judge would base the decision based on what seems fairest rather than equal.
What items could complicate a divorce?
While high-asset divorce cases are commonly complicated just because of the amount of money involved, certain assets could make the situation even more daunting. Some tricky items to valuate and divide include the following:
- Racehorses
- Business stocks and related assets
- Rare pieces of art
- High-value real estate
Of course, in many high-asset cases, millions of dollars in cash typically also play an important part. However, the listed assets have come up in multiple high-profile divorce cases, which happen to have had some of the most expensive settlements as well. Fortunately, this shows that if you do have any of these assets or others – such as rare collectibles or exotic pets – division is possible. However, the situation may go more smoothly if you and your soon-to-be ex-spouse can remain on good terms to divide the assets.
Coming to terms
If you and your spouse cannot come to property division terms on your own, you may still have the ability to argue for particular assets to the judge. Additionally, in some cases, restrictive terms could come with the settlement that prevent the person receiving those assets from using them for certain expenses, such as plastic surgery, which was the case with Alec and Jocelyn Wildenstein.
If you anticipate difficult aspects of your case, you may want to begin preparing as soon as possible. Gaining information about asset distribution, your legal options and any concerns you may have could allow you to see your situation more clearly. It is also important to remember that each case is different, and the results of any previous cases do not reflect the likely outcomes of yours.