How should I take inventory of my assets & liabilities in prep for divorce?

Before you can begin to design potential marital settlement agreements, you need to take stock of what you and your spouse own.  You need values assigned to all of your assets that are significant enough to name in a settlement. 

Start by listing each of your assets:

1. List your Real Estate
2. List bank accounts, retirement accounts, investment accounts.  Track the account owner, the type of account, where held, beneficiary, and value. 
3. List any securities you own in paper form.
4. List any life insurance policies.
5. List other property such as antiques, important belongings, furniture, etc that you may want to include in the property settlement

Next, list any liabilities.

1. list all secured debt (equity loan, 401K loan)
2. list all unsecured debt (credit card, line of credit, etc.)

If you own any business interests you will either consider that an asset or a liability, depending on the profitability of the business.

We recommend you stay away from listing every single item you own as this leads to more contention when collaborating on a divorce settlement.