In a divorce, the property must be split in what we call a just and right division. Typically the court will order an equitable division that most of the time comes out to be about fifty percent to each side. But how do you know what the value of your property is?
Your family law attorney may very well utilize more sophisticated valuators and certified valuation experts to derive the most accurate and best representative value for the property in a marital estate. But these lines of evaluating your property come with a cost. Sometimes that cost is pretty steep!
So how can you ballpark what values are for your house, your car, your piano, your collection of figurines?
Many of the professional valuators may start their searches on the Internet for all of these values. And more common than not, they will start with the same searches you can do on your own. For instance, if you have a car to value, then you could go to www.kbb.com to access Kelly Blue Book prices, just like the auto dealers do. To get a quick reference value to your house, you could go to your central appraisal district’s website and input your address. There are many realtor-based sites, like www.Zillow.com to find the Zestimate of your specific property. Some of these sites will amaze you with their results. You see, online data providers utilize various algorithms they have created to spit out instant results that may be closer than you think. Another source of interest would be www.Craigslist.com to find out what property like yours is out there in the secondary market for sale and resale. The list of items on Craigslist is virtually endless, so it’s worth a quick search.
These searches don’t take the place of a professional valuator or appraiser, but for quick valuations of various items, don’t discount what you can find on your own these days.