How do you protect your collection before you get married? Divorce can kill a hobby!

MeetThyReaper · 05-26-2010, 03:21 AM

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

JLM · 05-26-2010, 03:48 AM

If you are that concerned about your collection, don't get married.

Argonus · 05-26-2010, 03:48 AM

My wife's from old money.. and is wealthy as hell, once her parents pass away..

We'll never be hurting financially, even if they're immortal.

.. she's not a slouch, though.. she's getting a Doctorate soon...

I'm a retired school teacher, and now an actor...

.. ie, my sh!t is safe, since I have no money, while she (thus to a degree, "we"), have lots..

We don't have a prenup, but.. honestly... it's smart for you to worry about such a thing, but at the same time.. if you feel the NEED to worry about it, maybe you should reconsider the marriage?

I'm no therapist, so it's hardly my place to say...

.. that being said, my wife is Greek, and when she loses her temper she LOSES HER TEMPER and I'm always curious whether or not she'll go apesh!t enough to beeline for my man-cave and break my statues/art.

Nidgit · 05-26-2010, 03:57 AM

Kinda of agree with the posts above. Might not be the right time (or person) if you think this might be a real problem.

As for me, my wife would be happy never to see another statue again, so if we broke up I can't see her wanting any of my collection.

She has however made it very clear that if I was ever to cheat, then she would visit my collection room with a hammer, followed by my testicles

MeetThyReaper · 05-26-2010, 03:57 AM

I'm not engaged yet. I'm almost done my doctoral program at Penn State though. I'm down to the dissertation. I've just been thinking about the next step after the PhD, which is marriage and a family. I really just want to cover my butt in case anything ever went wrong. Been with the girlfriend for 2 and a half years already, so things are already serious between us. I'm just trying to gauge the community for their thoughts and advice. ^_^

-MTR

Makkari1 · 05-26-2010, 04:00 AM

First off let me say if you are planning on getting married and you are thinking divorce already then you shouldn't get married, you'll be divorced before the year is out. You can save yourself a lot of money in lawyer fees if you found someone you hate and buy them a house or a car, LOL.

I'm not sure what the marriage laws in your state are but I'm sure that whatever property you came into the marriage with is yours when you divorce. However, whatever property you acquired while during the marriage will be split equally. Typical I've seen my kin folk go through divorce and they seem to be able to split any property between them by picking and choosing what is really valuable to them. Most courts would rather you split whatever property you have with your spouse before they get involved.

If you have a lot of money or plan on having a major valuable collection then have that person sign a prenuptial stipulating that any statues and or comics that are purchased during he marriage are strictly yours if a divorce should occur. Of course if you pissed them off they could make a big stink about it and be very evil about the divorce, like break your staues or burn your comics before the divorce, so be sure you know who you are marrying before you get to that point, some people are real psychos

and are not revealed until after you marry them.

MeetThyReaper · 05-26-2010, 04:05 AM

It's not that I'm planning to get married AND divorced. lol Hell....I haven't even bought a ring or mentioned proposing. I'm just very protective of my collection and am thinking of the worst case scenario. I'm OCD like that. lol

Nidgit · 05-26-2010, 04:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MeetThyReaper

It's not that I'm planning to get married AND divorced. lol Hell....I haven't even bought a ring or mentioned proposing. I'm just very protective of my collection and am thinking of the worst case scenario. I'm OCD like that. lol

Here in Oz, prenup's aren't worth the paper they're written on, and you really risk p!ssing someone off by asking them to sign one in the first place (not a good way to start a marriage IMO).

Simplest advice would be just to look after your 'future' wife. Treat her well, be a good husband and then even if the marriage doesn't work and you split she's less likely to want to take any of your stuff anyway.

Makkari1 · 05-26-2010, 04:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MeetThyReaper

It's not that I'm planning to get married AND divorced. lol Hell....I haven't even bought a ring or mentioned proposing. I'm just very protective of my collection and am thinking of the worst case scenario. I'm OCD like that. lol

Nobody plans on being divorce and I understand why you would want to protect your collection. I'm saying just know who you are marrying before you commit.

jsnchrry · 05-26-2010, 05:51 AM

Does the girlfriend like your comics and statues? or could she careless about comics? Does she enjoy watching movies like Ironman, Spiderman and DarkKnight? or would she rather drag you to see a showing of Wicked? If she loathes your comics /statues collection now she will either accept it when your married...or just deal with it....maybe even despise it. Also consider this if you get her pregnant what might happen then?...will your comics and statues get sold to make room for baby?