Last Updated on: 23rd June 2025, 03:44 pm

Complete Guide to Personal Property Division and Retrieval After Divorce or Separation

The disposition of personal property following a separation or divorce can be highly contentious as well as confusing. According to recent statistics, the U.S. divorce rate has decreased from 3.6 per 1,000 people in 2010 to 2.4 per 1,000 in 2022.

Disagreements over personal possessions, even when they have little monetary value, can undermine agreements, lead to costly litigation delays, and increase hostility between parties.

Essential Steps for Personal Property Retrieval During Divorce

There may be confusion or simply a desire to hurt the other party when one spouse moves out and takes household items or personal items with the intent to keep them, sell them, or give them away. The following information can make it easier to retrieve your personal property with as little hardship as possible.

Start with a List of Personal Property

If possible, try to prepare a comprehensive list of your personal property that ensures it’s addressed during the course of your divorce proceedings and not divided in an inconsistent matter later when it may be harder for both parties to remember what personal property is considered part of the marital home.

Your list should be as comprehensive as possible with:

• The items you want to have returned
• An accurate estimate of their value

You can deliver this list to your spouse and his or her attorney before mediation or court and it can be used as a basis for a court-ordered settlement agreement or mediator-assisted agreement. Be sure to note which possessions are property you owned before the marriage as those items are not subject to division in a divorce.

Try a Voluntary Division of Property

If both parties agree to the list of personal property that belongs to each spouse, the best way to divide it is to do so voluntarily. As long as the court hasn’t entered a temporary order or a restraining order that prohibits the division, a spouse can return to the marital home and pick up the items and low-value separate party that both spouses have agreed to divide.

If you use this option, it works best if the property that you are dividing is worth under $500 such as:

• Clothing
• Personal items
• Toiletries

Trying to recover higher-value items before an agreement can lead to disagreements or it may be determined to be community property by the court.

Legal Methods for Property Division

Court-Ordered Property Division

If the parties can’t agree to distribute property together, the court or a mediator may divide up personal property for them in a reasonable manner. Part of your divorce involves dividing your property and debts.

This may be done through a settlement agreement that lists each item that each spouse is entitled to recover with procedures for retrieving the property. These procedures may include:

• That a third party must be present
• Notice may need to be given

Settlement agreements that are part of a court’s final order can also be enforced by the sheriff’s office or law enforcement agency.

If a settlement agreement fails to make a plan for dividing property, both parties can request a court order requiring the return of personal possessions. Court orders usually include a time and procedures for retrieving property.

A Police Escort is Possible

If you do not feel comfortable meeting your spouse to pick up your property, you cannot set a time when a third party will be available, or you believe you will not be safe, a police escort may be available to accompany you to the marital home to pick up your belongings.

If necessary, a police officer can order your spouse to leave the premises and allow you a reasonable amount of time to retrieve your personal possessions.

Property Can’t Be Sold or Disposed Without Permission

It’s important to note that neither spouse can sell, destroy, or give away property without permission from the other spouse or the court after a divorce has been filed. Once the divorce is final, neither spouse can get rid of possessions awarded to the other spouse until time limits in the divorce decree or agreement have passed.

If your spouse disposes of your property before they are legally allowed to do so, you can claim wrongful disposal of your belongings.

Understanding Marital Property vs. Separate Property in New York

New York no-fault divorce is anything but easy. No one expects your spouse, for better or for worse, until death do you part, to just quit.

Divorce is planning your future and equitable distribution of your marital property. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the divorce rate in 2021 remained stable at 14 divorces per 1,000 married women.

Equitable means fair or relative equality not exactly equal. Equitable distribution is inventorying marital assets and debts and deciding how they will be allocated. The duration of your marriage is a factor in the distribution of your personal property and liabilities.

Type of Property	Definition	Examples
Marital Property	Property either you or your spouse or both of you acquired during your marriage	• Business interests • Retirement funds • Real estate • Investments
Non-Marital Property	Separate property includes gifts given or inherited by one spouse or the other from sources outside of the marriage	• Gifts from third parties • Inheritances • Income from non-marital properties

Distribution of Assets

A family law attorney or mediator can help you get your possessions from your home. Michigan law requires judges to divide property fairly.

Divorce lawyers can negotiate a division of property to benefit your entire family. Divorce lawyers can save your vehicles, home, and assets from creditors and help you plan for a successful future.

While you are in the throes of the dissolution of life as you know it, working with your ex-spouse agreeing on the division of your acquired possessions keeps you out of court, reduces your legal fees, and cuts your court costs.

You and your ex-spouse must disposition your:

• Business interests
• Retirement funds
• Real estate
• Investments

What Constitutes Marital Property?

Marital property means property either you or your spouse or both of you acquired during your marriage.

If your property increased or decreased in value during your marriage, the increase is marital money or the decrease is a marital liability. If you paid extra money on your mortgage to pay it off early, your additional payments on your principal is marital money.

The equity in your family home and in your business is marital money. Each spouse’s financial contribution to the marriage determines who pays the mortgage and relative spending may determine who pays which credit card bills.

Accrued retirement accounts, life insurance payments, pensions, and deferred compensation acquired during your marriage are also marital assets. Gifts exchanged by you and your spouse are marital property.

What is non-marital property?

Separate property includes gifts given or inherited by one spouse or the other from sources outside of the marriage. Income from non-marital properties is separate non-marital income.

Your creditors should be paid from the sale of marital property. Each spouse’s earnings or contribution to the marital money is considered in the distribution of the property. The divorce court will exclude property and debt from court-ordered division upon a reasonable agreement between the parties.

Alimony Considerations

Temporary alimony payments are a way to equitably divide resources. Forty-one states and Washington, D.C. use a system known as equitable distribution.

Alimony is awarded at the judge’s discretion. Alimony improves the lower socioeconomic spouse’s ability to obtain an education or train for an adequate job.

Permanent alimony is paid only to low-income spouses who were always there for their family, housekeeping, raising children, and serving the spouse who supported her financially for many years.

Interim Orders and Emergency Situations

Interim alimony and partial property distribution orders may be entered upon a sworn motion by one of the parties to the divorce. Good cause for an interim order may be:

• Financial hardship
• Impending foreclosure on the marital home

The petition must demonstrate the need for an interim distribution of assets prior to the final divorce order. The interim order can provide much needed support to the lower income spouse or benefit a custodial parent.

The interim distribution is later incorporated into the final divorce decree. Equitable distribution of marital assets reduces the inequity for the filing spouse and prejudice against the non-filing spouse. The judge may award interim attorney’s fees to either spouse.

Domestic Violence and Property Retrieval

If you’re a victim of domestic violence, our New York City divorce attorney can help you file an order of protection immediately against your spouse to keep you and your children safe. An order of protection is issued by the court to limit the behavior of someone who harms or threatens to harm another person.

If you have an order of protection against you for Domestic Violence, our New York City divorce attorney may be able to help you preserve your parental rights. The National Domestic Violence Hotline provides essential tools and support 24/7/365.

If you regret the mistake you made when you assaulted your spouse, our family law attorney can help you preserve your business and your reputation. You have an obligation to provide financial support for your children. Our domestic violence attorney can help you negotiate a positive outcome for you, your wife, and children.

Legal Representation and Support Services

Spodek Law Group

Call the Spodek Law Group for a free initial consultation with our family law attorney in our multi-lingual New York City, Brooklyn, Bronx, Long Island, or Queens office.

Our family law advocates have 40 years of experience advocating for clients in the process of dividing marital assets and liabilities in the best interest of all parties to the divorce. Our Martindale-Hubbell distinguished lawyer Lance Spodek’s legal team can help you negotiate a win-win solution for your small business, save your children’s family home, and relieve the ongoing stress and emotional turmoil of your divorce.

Your Rights During Separation

If you are going through a legal separation, a divorce or simply ending any type of domestic relationship, you have the right to claim your possessions. This is true whether they are in a shared home or apartment.

What can you can do to make sure that you get your things back after a relationship ends?

Practical Steps for Property Recovery

You Should Try to Arrange a Time With Your Former Partner

The first thing that you should try is to talk with your former partner to arrange a time to pick up your stuff. Ideally, you will pick a time when he or she is at work or otherwise out of the apartment or home.

This enables you to:

• Get in
• Get your property
• Leave as soon as possible

It also eliminates the odds that the two of you get into a physical or verbal altercation when you get your clothes and other belongings back.

A Police Escort May Be Available

If you can’t arrange a time when your partner won’t be home to get your stuff or you think that you are being watched, a police escort may be available. An officer will stand guard while you load your things into a truck, van or any other vehicle that you bring.

If need be, the officer will order your spouse or partner to leave the premises for as long as it would reasonably take to complete the property retrieval process.

A Court Order May Be Necessary

In some cases, it may require a court order to get your things back. The court will designate a time when you are allowed to get your property without any harassment or interference form any other parties.

If your belongings are being held in storage or have been moved, you may be allowed time at each place where your property is being held. In some cases, a neutral location may be chosen where your stuff will be waiting for you to pick up.

Financial Alternatives and Final Considerations

Can You Get the Cash Instead?

Depending on the circumstances in your case, you may be able to get the cash value of your belongings. For instance, if you have a couch at the home that you shared with your former partner, he or she may be willing to give you money to keep it.

This may be the best option if you are forced to downsize after a split or otherwise could use the money more than you could use the couch.

Your Property Rights Remain Protected

Your property remains your property no matter what happens in a relationship. Upon decreeing the dissolution of a marriage, the court shall determine the legal title as between the parties.

If you bought something or had something before the relationship started, it is yours to keep for the rest of your life until you gift or sell it.

Therefore, don’t be afraid to call the police or get a court order if you can’t get your things back through good faith negotiations.