Might be worthwhile getting hold of a Koll's guide to values -- that might give you some independant valuations.

If you had most of the collection before you entered the relationship this does help in how much the "hornby supporter" is entitled too. Grab a lawyer mate best bet and good luck

As John pointed out, possibly the best solution is if you can provide evidence of the actual purchase price of each item.
Could be difficult, I know.

I keep all invoices and receipts just in case (not because I think the FD is about to bolt , more worries about fire/theft/???)

Plus, I enter all significant purchases into my database, and have an offsite backup.
Yes, I know, hindsight is a wonderful thing...etc, etc, etc...

Bummer! Sorry to hear

It does remind me that if I should ever get hitched it will be under terms where each partner can only take out what they brought in to the relationship. In Denmark you can choose between "separate ownership" and "common ownership" when you marry. Only reason to choose the latter is if she's stinking rich ...

Sorry to hear about it.
It will be very hard to agree on a price. If all negotiations fail maybe you should just split the collection and let her have half of it.
One person does the splitting and the other person gets first pick.

Hi Pete - sorry for you !!!

Well, let's talk business. So SHE wanna marklins you've bought 20 !!!!!! years back ???!!!
This lady must be completely out of this world but never mind - we can cover this


SOLUTION: GET SOME JUNK MARKLIN STUFF FROM EBAY AND FORK IT OVER TO DA BXXXX.
MISSION COMPLETED


Have fun

John

Hi Pete. Sorry to hear your news. One suggestion above is to get a dealer to give you a purchase value that he would pay. This should be low. The other way of course is to give her half the trains and with the cash you save buy some new Marklins. Ensure you are at present using a really cheap controller etc.

Good luck for the future.

dave

Nope. I really wouldn't have adviced HER doing so without Pete being present at such.
Since this would give proof an alien individual had illegal access to Pete's belongings.

And this again were perfect evidence why so many of his gold & silver coins are missing, now ...

She can never win this marklin thingy.

I suspect it is not the value of your collection which is at stake here (although Train Trader in Sydney is a Marklin dealer and values collections-you probably already know this). I think the real issue is that it is something you want/love and she thinks you will pay over the odds to keep it. I would be inclined to offer her half (or the agreed proportion of the "relationship assets" )of the actual collection (trying to pick the best pieces as she is unlikely without a formal valuation (probably unlikely) to know what is worth the most).I assume she is not likely to want the pieces and will eventually want to sell them or realise that you are not going to pay her a premium.

PLease Delete

As a (french)lawyer, who don't know the laws from the State of Victoria, I can only say that the use of an expert appointed by court could be a bad issue as the experts very often don't know really the value of things.
The Koll prices aren't correct according to the market price in most case and as Marklin toys train collector I can say that I never or nearly saw an item reached the Koll prices (speaking about auctions of important OO HO Marklin collection on which there were not only french but also foreigners as german and swiss, went to an auction on last april on which there were many early OO HO Marklin items in VGC mostly boxed, foreigners bidders german and swiss, I can sent you the results with price if you want and you would see that a very few items -the rarest and very earlies pre war and just post war- reached or nearly the Koll prices).
A drastic way would be to sell by auction your Marklin collection: you will get the real prices.

Everything I have is being held in trust for Nicholas so why on earth would you want him to have half?

Jeremy/

Good move, Pål.

If giving away half the collection then why not give your ex the first choice of loco then you take one etc until all are distributed. This gives you a reasonable chance of getting most of your best locos. Perhaps you can toss a coin as to to who gets first choice.
If it was me I would just get a valuation from a dealer. The valuation would be the price the dealer would give you for your collection (probably very low) If your ex does not like this then tell her to take legal advice which she will no doubt be getting anyway.
From your point of view your lawyer should help and let you move on as quickly as possible to start the next part of your life.
best wishes

dave

Pete,

most unfortunate, hope it works out.

Just a little humor..







Regards,


Thomas

The important thing is to get rid of the problem. Plenty more trains available.
Eric

If the other party in the dispute is demanding 50% of the value of the collection, you have to establish the value of the collection. For example, seeing that you are living in Australia, the demand for those items may be less in Australasia than it would be in Europe or other areas of the world. For example, a Swiss Maerklin lok could technically remain unsold on eBay for a long time, while a similar lok in Europe would be sold rapidly. You also have to consider that if you were to list the item on eBay.de and sell it from Australia, that bidders would have to take the shipping costs from AUS to Europe in consideration and that your item would not be competitive with similar or identical European items for that reason, plus the applicable VAT Taxes of up to almost 20% that importers might have to pay on top of that.
Establishing a value using Koll's can be difficult, as Koll's normally provides a value for mint in the box items. Items that have been used rapidly lose a percentage of their value, much as does as vehicle as soon as it is driven off the lot.
I would calculate a basket value, that is, find maybe 5 of the same item listed on auctions, eBay, pawn shop, dealer purchase quotes, dealer sales quotes (used), etc and then establish an average value for that particular item. You can then set aside the equivalent to 50% of the overall assessment for possible payment.
The first thing that you will need to do is to hire a lawyer who will challenge the value of the collection. Australian law will also determine whether the fact that the collection represents 20 years of work and whether the other party can claim 50% of that value for 8 years of cohabitation.
You also need to look into hiring investigators to find out how much revenue your ex-spouse is obtaining on her own, whether he/she is being supported by somebody else, etc... If you have children, either from the marriage or from previous relationships, the collection may be part of a legacy for those children and thus at least partially shielded in this instance.

I agree that undervaluating the items in a convenience sale may constitute fraud.

Best of luck and regards

Mike C