As you enter into your divorce proceedings in Birmingham, you expect to have to deal with a number of different details regarding your personal and marital property. Some of these may have a dramatic impact on your chances of securing a favorable settlement, so you should know going in which ones to pay close attention to.
The exact valuation date of your marital assets may not seem to be one of them. While seemingly inconsequential, when the court assigns a value to your marital property goes a long away in determining what your interest in it may be.
Pushing for an equitable valuation
Say that your ex-spouse has a potentially lucrative business deal that, were you still together, you would both stand to profit from. Without your awareness of it, what is to stop them from purposely delaying in consummation until after your divorce proceedings? Doing so would essentially limit your potential benefit from it (or eliminate it altogether).
Past Michigan state court rulings recognize the potential of this happening, and thus emphasizes the importance of the assessment date of marital assets in a divorce case. Determinations often occur on a case-by-case basis. What, then, should you push for?
Understanding the current state of your marital assets
Answering that question requires that you know where your marital assets currently stand. If (as presented in the aforementioned example) the potential for any mutually beneficial appreciation of those assets exists, you may want to seek a later date (such as the day your divorce becomes final). One the other hand, you worry the value of your marital property may drop (either due to market conditions or your ex-spouse’s actions), an earlier date (like the day you separated) might be better. This information is solely meant to inform you of your options (as opposed to being actual legal advice).