Make an Inventory

• 1
  Assets reported on financial statements are the easiest to calculate.Checking credit card statment image by Elzbieta Sekowska from Fotolia.com
  
  Gather all records that document items owned by either spouse. This includes bank and investment account records, retirement and pension documents, insurance policies, property appraisals, mortgage and other loan documents, credit card statements, outstanding household bills, etc. Consider taking photographs and videos to document non-liquid assets such as furniture, major appliances and jewelry.
  
  
• 2
  Determining the current value of physical assets can be challenging.Jewelry image by Sergey Yakovenko from Fotolia.com
  
  Make an inventory of all property belonging to either spouse or the couple. At this stage, don't worry about defining exactly where ownership of each item belongs. Formal division of assets will be addressed during pre-divorce negotiations and litigation. Property is everything that is owned and which could be considered an asset, such as houses, cars, all bank and investment accounts, pensions and retirement accounts, businesses, stock certificates, furniture and jewelry.
  
  
• 3
  Offset cash and property assets with total debt.you owe me money. image by Ken Pilon from Fotolia.com
  
  List all of the liabilities of either spouse. Liabilities include mortgages, home equity loans, car loans, credit card debt, private party loans, etc. Leave the determination of whether a debt is personal or joint to be addressed later.
  
  

Identify Non-Marital Assets and Liabilities

• 1). Determine which property is non-marital. Generally, personal property items that were brought into the marriage and gifts that were given personally to one spouse qualify as non-marital. Property inherited by one spouse during the marriage is also non-marital. Each spouse will is allowed to keep non-marital property items and their values are not counted when determining the division of assets. Terms of a valid prenuptial agreement may alter the determination of what is a non-marital asset. Otherwise, non-marital assets that have been mingled with joint assets or converted to joint ownership are likely to be deemed marital assets.
  
  
• 2). Separate personal from joint liabilities. Debts that are secured by non-marital assets of one spouse are likely to be non-marital assets if the other spouse is not named on the loan. Debt that was incurred by either spouse during the marriage is generally a marital liability. Both spouses may be held liable for repayment of loans entered into during a marriage, regardless of which spouse is named on the loan documents. Debt that either spouse incurred before the marriage is typically a non-marital liability.
  
  
• 3). Remove any assets and liabilities from consideration if both parties can agree that they are non-marital. Those that are in doubt will need to be treated as marital property or debt until the parties eventually agree or a court makes the final determination.
  
  

Calculate the Value of Marital Assets and Liabilities

• 1). Add the values of all marital items that have a defined cash value. This includes bank and investment accounts, retirement accounts, insurance policies and cash.
  
  
• 2). Add the current values of significant items of property such as real estate, automobiles, jewelry and collectibles. Base valuations on either recognized sources of values for fairly standard items or seek expert appraisals. Generally, assets with lower values are split through negotiation of the spouses and are not the subject of item-by-item agreements.
  
  
• 3). Add the cash and non-cash values together to calculate the value of marital assets.
  
  
• 4). Add the outstanding loan balances on all secured and unsecured marital debts to determine the total liabilities.
  
  

Determine the Division of Marital Assets or Debt

• 1). Subtract the total liabilities from the total assets to calculate net worth. This will be a negative number if the liabilities exceed the total assets.
  
  
• 2
  An even split of total assets and liabilities is assumed to be a fair division.100 dollar cut with scissors image by Yanir Taflev from Fotolia.com
  
  Divide the net worth in half. This is presumed to be the amount of assets or debt that each spouse will take away from the marriage.
  
  
• 3). Consider whether there are factors that over-ride the presumption that an even division is a fair outcome. The burden of proof rests with the party who claims to be due more than half of the assets or less than half of the debt. An example where a court might grant more to one party as an "equitable distribution" would be when a couple each owned a home prior to a short marriage and only one spouse converted his home to a marital asset. In such a case, the marital home might revert to a personal asset of the original owner and its value would be excluded from the calculation of an even split of marital assets. In this case, any loans secured by the home are likely to also shift from marital to personal liabilities.
  
  
• 4). Negotiate how the assets and liabilities will be distributed in order to achieve the target amount on each side. If at all possible, separating spouses should present the court with an agreement that is fair. If this is not possible, each party should prepare for the inevitable court battle by developing a reasonable theory upon which a court can decide how marital assets will be split.