Artists, art assets, and the divorce process

Artists don’t often look at their work as property. Instead, they consider this a labor of love. It is something they do because they enjoy showing off their creativity. But here is something to consider: Art assets are often taken into consideration during the divorce process.

It is easy for artists to consider their work “theirs and theirs alone.” However, the legal system may not feel the same way. The courts may consider this marital property, meaning that the other spouse can make a claim to it during a divorce.

There are many challenges associated with this, including the fact that a value must be assigned to each piece of art. The valuation may be completed by a gallery owner, professional appraiser, or somebody else with knowledge of art and valuation experience.

Obviously, some artists are more popular than others. For some, every work of art they create is worth thousands of dollars. For others, however, this is very rarely the case. This only makes the divorce and asset distribution process more complicated.

Artists take great pride in the work they create. Unfortunately, when one of these people goes through divorce, they may not be able to hold on to all their art assets.

It doesn’t matter what side of the fence you sit on, if you are going through divorce in Texas, it will not be long before every asset is brought to the forefront. If one partner is an artist, this could be mean a considerable amount of artwork. How this property is distributed will be based on many factors, some of which can be confusing.

Source: The Huffington Post, “For Artists, Divorce Means Splitting Up the (Art) Assets,” Daniel Grant, accessed Feb. 10, 2016