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Trading Cards and Collectibles in a Michigan Divorce
Protecting Your Magic: The Gathering, Pokémon, and Sports Card Collections in Livingston County
When most people think about dividing a marital estate during a divorce, they think about big things like houses, cars, and bank accounts. But today, hobby collections can be worth significant value, and often encompass large portions of the martial estate.
If you or your spouse owns valuable trading cards—like Magic: The Gathering (MTG), Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, or rare sports cards—these collections are considered property. That means they must be looked at when you get a divorce in Michigan.
At Ashley Legal, PLLC, we help clients in Howell, Hartland, Brighton, throughout Livingston County, and the surrounding area protect and fairly divide unique assets like collectible card games.
Is My Card Collection "Marital Property"?
In Michigan, a judge only divides marital property—which is generally anything you or your spouse bought or earned during the marriage.
- Before the Marriage (Separate Property): If you had a binder of rare Pokémon cards or a competitive MTG deck before your wedding day, those cards are usually yours to keep.
- During the Marriage (Marital Property): If you bought booster boxes, single cards, or completed sets while you were married, those cards are shared marital property. This is true even if only one of you played the game or built the collection.
- The "Grey Area": If you had a collection before marriage but used shared marital money to buy high-value single cards to upgrade it, the increase in the collection's value might be shared.
How Do We Figure Out What the Cards Are Worth?
You cannot just guess the value of a card collection, and you cannot always rely on what you originally paid for the cards years ago. Card values change constantly based on the market.Getting a fair value requires a few steps:
- Making an Inventory: You must make a list of the most valuable cards (like a Base Set Holographic Charizard or a Black Lotus).
- Professional Appraisal: For highly valuable collections, we work with professional card appraisers who know the hobby. They look at the card's condition (the grade) and current market prices on trusted hobby sites to find the "Fair Market Value".