Long-lasting marriages and relationships that involve higher-earning couples often result in contentious divorce proceedings. Couples with more property to divide often find that it takes longer to negotiate or litigate their divorce matters.
Certain assets, in particular, may lead to a stalemate in negotiations because of the emotional or financial value of those assets. Even those who would prefer to avoid a litigated divorce may find themselves struggling to reach an amicable settlement with their spouse if their marital estate contains any of the three assets below.
Real property
Both the home where a couple may have lived during the marriage and investment properties obtained in the hopes of generating income or profit later can complicate divorce negotiations. A couple may disagree about everything from whether it is time to sell the property or not to how much it is worth. Those who own acreage or buildings can expect those assets to be a focal point of property division matters.
Retirement and investment accounts
The more financial resources people have set aside throughout the marriage for future comfort, the more anxious the spouses may feel about dividing those resources during a divorce. While there are ways to split even tax-sheltered retirement accounts without incurring penalties, people often become very emotional at the prospect of retiring with fewer less resources in their name than they initially expected to have.
Companion animals
From thoroughbred horses that the children help take care of on a homestead property to a dog adopted by spouses who do not share children, the animals in a family can represent both significant financial investment and major emotional attachments. All people often view the animals that they care about as members of their immediate families, the law in Ohio typically treats pets like property. Spouses either need to come up with their own arrangements for caring for these animals after the divorce or allow a judge to decide who keeps the pet after treating it as an asset that belongs to the marital estate.
Those who are preparing for divorce often need to set their emotions aside and take a more practical approach to matters involving the assets that they have the strongest attachment to. Planning carefully to safeguard the property that is most likely to trigger an emotional reaction during an Ohio divorce can help people to minimize conflict during this difficult but necessary transition.