Division of Personal Property

An equitable division of marital property in a divorce case in Georgia includes all marital property. The definition of property is very broad under Georgia law. For example, O.C.G.A. § 44-1-1 defines property as follows: "(1) Realty and personalty which is actually owned; (2) The right of ownership of realty or personalty; and (3) That which is subject to being owned or enjoyed."

Therefore, property includes everything from the marital home to a microwave inside the marital home. The concept of return on investment heavily affects the division of small, tangible property in a divorce in Georgia, just as other issues in the divorce case. That is, the parties should ask themselves the following question: "Is the specific piece of tangible personal property worth fighting over?"

Because the parties realize that fighting over tangible personal property inside the marital home (e.g., TV, couch, pots and pans, etc.) is not worth the litigation costs that they will likely incur, they usually resolve the issue of division of tangible personal property by agreement (e.g., mediation or arbitration). That is, it is not common for parties to go to a trial over tangible personal property. On the other hand, the division of intangible personal property, such as financial assets, may be subject to more litigation than the division of tangible personal property.

Of course, there could be circumstances where the parties might litigate the division of certain tangible property if that piece of property is worth a lot to a party or the parties (e.g., a collectible item). The worth, here, could include sentimental worth as well as financial worth. At the final trial, the parties would present evidence of the value of each piece of tangible personal property and argue their respective positions on the equitable division of that property.

For example, if the spouses own the most expensive collectible comic book in the world as marital property, which could sell for millions of dollars, then they would be required to establish the value of the comic book. The value of the comic book could be established either through an appraiser's testimony or through the parties' own testimony (a lay person's testimony regarding that person's opinion of the value of property is allowed, though the trial court may not give much weight to it). Then, the parties would argue how the comic book should be divided. Because the comic book itself would not be physically divided, the trial court would divide the value of the comic book. There could be a dispute about the value of the comic book, and it would be up to the trial court to determine the value of the comic book based upon the evidence presented.

While the division of tangible personal property may not be commonly litigated in a divorce case in Georgia, it may be an important issue to the parties under certain circumstances, in which case the parties may benefit from consulting with a divorce lawyer in Georgia about that issue.