Originally Posted by lillamy

If you have a background in finance, you know this much better than I do -- but I would be worried about having any financial entanglements remaining after the divorce. I've just seen very strange situations occur...

As for "who gets what" -- My lawyer suggested I make a list of suggestions of how to divide household property, and then value everything according to garage sale prices (because you don't get to count full value) and make sure it was even. My ex was very bitter and vengeful, and insisted on splitting matching things -- he wanted to keep the bed and the matching dresser, but I could get the matching vanity, for example. In the end, I settled for whatever he wanted to give up. The only things that really mattered to me were heirlooms, and I just listed those as my personal property and not up for dividing -- and that worked.