From Divine Love to Divorce Court...

How a Home Inventory can help during the transitional times of marriage...

In business relationships, it is widely understood to "design your divorce while you're still in love". In other words, if one partner decides to change their course during the business relationship, there needs to be a clear definition made before things go bad as to what will happen to the business. This is when cool heads can prevail and create a winning solution for all.

So why don't we do that in marriage? Marriage starts out with the best intentions for a life long union. But sometimes things change, people change and commitments change. The "D" word comes up. Divorce is a difficult enough time as it is, but now you have to separate your property. If you had a prenuptial agreement, you may already have an understanding how to divide property. If you do not, there will be a lot of questions in your mind. Will my spouse be fair? What will we fight over? The CD collection? The sofa? It's not going to be easy.

Having a home inventory is one way the couple can fairly divide their property without having to go through painful face-to-face negotiations. This can allow the couple to claim the property they want and negotiate the items they both want in a neutral setting and in their own time. It should include a complete listing of all personal property along with pictures for reference and some sort of cataloging system so you know which clock/chair/computer/etc. each is referring to.

So let's say you are engaged to be wed in the near future. You may have even considered a prenuptial agreement and a home inventory should be part of that agreement. What a home inventory can do for you is identify what each partner has come to the marriage with in the event that things don't work out. This way there would be no disputing the property brought into the marriage. The same can also be said for roommates moving in together.

It gets a little bit dicier with this perspective, but perhaps you expect your spouse to become problematic in your upcoming separation. Having a home inventory in place prior to any legal proceedings could prove a very valuable tool in the end. This would create a detailed digital record of the items to be split, proof that they exist and that they were in the home. Sometimes this kind of preemptive measure may be in your best interest.

Marriage can bring out the best in people, but unfortunately it can also bring out the worst. If you know someone who may be going through a marital change, please share this with them.

Kelly Rinke
President
ProActive Home Inventory
www.ProActiveHomeInventory.com
kelly@ProActiveHomeInventory.com
972.869.9000