Property division and your children’s assets: Tips for parents

On Behalf of | Nov 22, 2021 | Property Division |

When you get divorced, one of the things you have to do is to divide your property. What you may not realize is that your children’s assets, like bedroom furniture and clothing, may also be yours to divide as well. Many of the items your children use every day are for their benefit, but they still fall into the category of marital assets you need to divide.

It’s important for parents to divide this property in a way that makes sense and that doesn’t harm their child. For example, if your child uses a computer every day, it may make sense to keep that in their primary home or to have them take it back and forth between homes. Restricting it to being used in only one home may not make sense if it means that your child won’t be able to do homework or complete tasks when they’re visiting a parent who can’t replace that item with a duplicate.

Handling your children’s assets during divorce

One way to approach the division of your children’s assets is to think of the assets in different categories. For example, you and your ex may agree that all bedroom furniture goes to the parent with a lower income and that the cost of new furniture at the higher-earning parent’s home will be covered out of that parent’s income.

For more personal items, like clothing or toys, you might ask your children to participate in deciding which items go to each home. They might split up their favorite outfits and send half of their clothing to one home and half to the other, for example, or opt to take everything to one and buy new items for the other home.

If toys can be repurchased, it might make sense to have duplicates. For items that cannot be duplicated, taking them back and forth might be a good choice.

These are things you’ll need to think about as you set up your homes following your divorce. Your child has to come first, so divide their items in a way that makes sense and gives them the items they need to be comfortable in each space.