For many people going through a divorce, the family home will be the largest asset divided. While Texas is a community property state, that doesn’t necessarily mean marital property is split evenly. Instead, courts typically distribute assets in a“just and right” manner.

Despite the monetary value of a home, it's also one of the most challenging issues from an emotional standpoint due to the years and memories you’ve already invested. It's even more difficult for parents who don’t want to uproot their young kids from familiar surroundings.

Get an accurate appraisal

Obtaining a precise valuation of your home is essential to receive your fair share. While realtors use comparative market reports to determine a home's value, divorcing couples should work with a licensed appraiser, who considers additional factors. This is especially crucial when high-end upgrades are made to the property.

Receiving the best possible financial outcome is vital when you are going through a divorce. But dividing marital assets can be complicated when one spouse receives his or her income through various means, including bonuses or stock options.

When compensation comes solely from a salary, negotiations are likely to be straightforward, and the timing of the divorce will typically not make a difference. However, it's vital to understand where your earnings come from and how the process could impact them.

Types of income and possible effects of divorce

If your compensation package includes any of these provisions, an experienced family law attorney here in Texas can help you protect these assets during negotiations:

You’ve spent years building your retirement funds for the future. Now, they are a healthy portion of your portfolio. Unfortunately, a divorce may divert some of those hard-earned funds for years to come.

Dividing retirement accounts and pensions rank second on the list of the most contentious issues during divorces, according to the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. (Spousal support is the most fought-over issue and dividing business assets the third.) An experienced divorce lawyer can explain how best to divide your retirement assets, but here is some information about how a qualified domestic relations order (QDRO) can help.

Planning payouts with a QDRO

QDROs are used to divide retirement assets during divorces. How a QDRO splits assets can have a big impact on how intertwined your benefits will be going forward:

Financial infidelity plagues nearly half of Americans in relationships, and it could have a significant impact when it comes time for a divorce. It can be hard to look for assets under every rock but leaving no stone unturned might be vital to getting the share of assets you deserve.

41% of Americans say they’re guilty of hiding financial detailsfrom their partners. Some may have concealed a receipt or two, while others go so far as hiding entire bank accounts. This breach of trust has many costs, not the least of which is keeping you from getting an accurate idea how much you should get during the division of your marital assets.

Recovering from cover-ups

As you proceed with your plans to obtain a Texas divorce, you may experience an uneasy feeling that your spouse has set about attempting to hide marital assets from you, especially if you and (s)he represent a high-asset couple. As you probably already know, Texas is a community property state in which, per law, spouses own all marital assets 50/50 and must divide them up that way in a divorce. Consequently, should your spouse indeed be hiding some of these assets, (s)he will receive more than (s)he should during the divorce and you will receive less than you should.

Unfortunately, due to today's technology, spouses have more opportunity to hide assets and more ways in which to do it. In addition, as FindLaw explains, such hidden assets may be exceedingly difficult to find and therefore require the services of a forensic accountant to discover and track them.

What forensic accountants do