How do you protect your collection before you get

[meetthyreaper]

How do you protect your collection before you get married? Divorce can kill a hobby!
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OK...I've got a serious question for everybody. I know alot of collectors here are married. I'm not. I'm at the age where I'm considering getting serious. My concern is that I have a HUGE collection of comics, action figures, statues, DVDs, and other geek-related goodness. How the heck do you go about protecting your collection if things ever went sour in a marriage? I honestly dread the idea that if I had to get a divorce, the ex would be entitled to half my stuff. Good God, I have customs and a ton of irreplacable items. I know about prenuptial agreements, but am not sure how well they hold up. Also, how the hell do I protect my collection when I add new stuff AFTER getting married? This is a major hiccup for me and I'd love to hear what fellow collectors have to say.

Thanks gang!

Sincerely,

Your friendly neighborhood Reaper

[the7thcynic]

It would have to go VERY sour for your wife to even try and get half of your collection. And even if it did, if it went to a judge, I'm pretty sure she wouldnt get awarded any of it. Worst case scenario would prolly be, if its worth a lot, that a dollar amount is set for the value of your collection, and she will get the same value in something else - ie, cash, car, etc. Dont worry abt it bud - your collection is safe.

The only reason id think it wouldnt be safe, is that if a divorce got THAT sour, well...u know what they sat abt a woman scorned. At that point you should prolly worry more abt her ruining/destroying your collection, rather than trying to acquire it.

[meetthyreaper]

True....true.

My key issue is that I talk to my girlfriend all the time about how valuable my collection is. She's still not interested, but sees how much I spend on it. Let's be honest though....there's a thin line between love and hate. At the point of divorce, it just seems like the other person goes out of their way to hurt you. In my case, that'd be dilliberately breaking up the collection.

Her folks are divorced and her dad is getting screwed over by her mom right now. Her dad bought a slick new car for my girlfriend, but it's in his name. Her mom wants the car as a cushy kick-back, apparently as stipulated in the divorce settlement and doesn't care less about my girlfriend. It's terrible how these divorces end up hurting not just the spouses, but the kids, too.

Considering this, I'm left to wonder if my girlfriend would be capable of being like her mom. She tells me all the time that she hates her and is nothing like her, but it still lingers in the back of my mind. She does have a temper, but what woman doesn't (am I right, fellas?) LOL

[jestergoblin]

My folks got divorced 9 years ago. It was bitter and brutal. A few things to take note of:

A) What are the fault laws in the state you live in? Some states are zero-fault which means even if one party has an affair, that doesn't mean anything and the whole estate is split down the "middle." In most cases, the woman will get more than half because of work history.

B) If you want your kids to have something, then put it in their name. My parents owned property that was intended for my siblings and my college education. It was around $150,000 worth. Since it wasn't in any of our names, the lawyers devoured it and I lost about half of my college tuition that my parents had always told me was going to be there. This was when I was a sophomore in high school. It sucked royally.

C) As for protecting your stuff, I don't really know what you can do beyond making some sort of prenuptial agreement. I know that if I ever got married, it would be explicitly clear that my Magic: the Gathering collection is mine. As for the toys, I don't see them as really having value. Sure, I know I could turn around and sell my SHS collection for around a grand but I have no reason to do that.

[the7thcynic]

Even if she turns out to be just like her Mom, I still say if it goes to court the judge would be able to see thru her malice. The collection is obviously yours. (You dont get half of her shoes, right?) So if she makes a big deal abt their value, the toys would get appraised and like I said, you keep the collection and she makes out some other way to balance it out. The court will NOT bother splitting it down the 'middle' and try and work out who gets what.

Let's see, you get Rogue, she gets Iceman, you get Black Panther, she gets Storm......