How Are the Contents of the Family Home Divided After a Divorce?

By Karen Pritchard

Principal Associate

Household contents can be tricky.

Lawyers can be involved in negotiating the division of contents. However, it is important that parties do not incur legal fees that outweigh the value of the contents that are in dispute.

That said, parties may feel strongly about retaining a particular item, for example if it was bought for them by a family member, or it holds other sentimental value.

On the whole, parties manage to divide contents between themselves, with little or no lawyer involvement.

Very often, parties comprise a list of the contents to be divided. They then agree each item individually, or take it in turns to choose one item from the list.

Ultimately if contents cannot be agreed between the parties, the court can be asked to make a decision, but the legal fees involved in doing that would likely outweigh the contents in dispute.

It is possible to attach a schedule of the agreed division of contents to the court order that sets out the whole financial agreement.

Alternatively, the order could also simply state that the contents of the family home will be divided by a certain date (such as the sale of the family home, or the transfer of ownership of the family home to the other).

Usually, the court order will also state that the parties can make an application to the court if the contents cannot be divided by a specified date. The order would then usually give a cut off date after which each party will just retain whatever is in their physical ownership at that point if no court application has been made.

Parties should take legal advice to ensure that they receive enough money upon the divorce to furnish their home where they will not retain enough contents to do so.

For more information and to find out how we can help you, please contact our Family Team on 0345 646 0406 or fill in our online enquiry form and a member of our Team will be in touch.