Property Division Attorney in Maplewood, Minnesota

What is your approach in handling a property division dispute?

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i think the first thing is to get as

much information as you can

so getting things valued very often

that’s houses

pensions

sometimes there’s collectibles other

things are little unusual you know coin

collections uh art

so getting a balance sheet together

that everyone can live with is is a key

point you know sometimes it’s as simple

as pulling blue book values for cars

uh you had people go online even during

a during a settlement conference of some

sort

and just pull numbers for you know what

what are hummels value valued at or

whatever other collectibles they may

have

you know sometimes there’s a small

business so getting that valued so

getting getting the data up front

helps the process immensely

then you need to decide who wants what

so there it’s it’s not unusual that

there’s a dispute over who gets the

house

how you solve that problem um you know

there’s no right or wrong answer and

sometimes

you know

judges

will order the sale of a house and

neither side wants that typically

one or the other parties wants the house

for various reasons sometimes it’s for

the kids sometimes they had it before

the marriage i mean there’s there’s all

kinds of reasons there’s not

good guidance on on how to how to make

that decision um it’s left really in the

discretion of the judges so when we’re

trying to settle the case you know we we

know that and any number of things could

happen

people typically um

find other things they want um

you know to offset the value of the

house

so you know you you get that data you

you kind of try to you know work through

who gets what

and then at the bottom you know you hope

it comes as close to equal as possible

and if it doesn’t you create a buyout

arrangement typically and sometimes that

buyout arrangement is tied into other

issues so it might offset spousal

maintenance for a time or

you know someone may agree to do

something in return for for something

creative on the buyout so we leverage

property against you know other things

maybe someone will keep their spouse on

medical insurance

um in return for that if it’s if it’s

available to them i’ve had cases where

you know one party was was handy around

the house and agreed to you know do some

upkeep things for a couple years i mean

so there’s there’s all kinds of things

people are willing to do

um you know a little horse trading

around property

St. Paul, MN family law attorney Thomas Tuft talks about his approach in handling a property division dispute.

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