Two years ago I put on a half day seminar for about 300 lawyers called the “Ultimate Property Division Seminar.”  I talked to a lot of judges about what they wanted and did not want to hear in a property division trial.  Here is the one thing they all wanted — a unified spreadsheet which shows both parties’ values and proposed divisions and which provides space for the judge’s ruling.

NOTE: This spreadsheet is specific to the USA. When using, take into account the differences that may exist between the US & Australia.

This ideal spreadsheet can only be prepared after you have both spouse’s proposed values and divisions.  The spreadsheet has to be printed on very wide ledger size paper (or two letter size pages taped together) and has columns for:

– Asset/Debt
– Husband’s Proposed Value
– Wife’s Proposed Value
– Court’s Value (blank – for judge to fill in)
– Husband’s Proposed Division
– Wife’s Proposed Division
– Court’s Division (blank)

The spreadsheet also shows the differences between the parties on what is separate property.  I color code the columns in stereotypical pink and blue.