Overstreet Article on Selling Comics

[mrwoogieman]

Thanks again for the comments sympathies

 

Yep lawyers have cost about $55K so far, less than the market value of the collection but the 55K is less than the amount of money she was asking to settle out of court. When you inflate an asset like the comic collection to 180K it skews the Net Financial Property number so it makes it look like I should owe her a lot of money.

 

Thanks a ton for posting that Eric

Ends up not being the article I was thinking of though so still searching if anyone else has any ideas on where it says that you are going to get pennies on the dollar for bulk common books.

In my case if the collection is valued at 50K I wouldn't have to pony up anything actually. She kept everything including house so I have enough deductions that at 50K she would owe me money. Hence the reason why she is fighting so hard to have this unrealistic valuation.

 

My suggestion for those reading this and not married yet is do a full inventory before you get married, something else that is complicating matters.

 

I recall a blurb at the front of Overstreet saying that all comics are valued in the guide at cover price and above, but that many of the comics printed in the last 30 years sell for substantially less than cover.

 

[ThreeSeas]

Oh man. These are some divorce horror stories.

 

I went thru a divorce last summer that was finalized in October. Compared to these stories I guess I got really lucky.

 

My wife of 20 years took off on me and the kids with a three day or so notice. She hooked up with an older Australian guy who she meant online, he bought her everything she wanted to get her over there from here in the states. She married him two weeks after our divorce was finalized.

 

I got lucky because my ex did not think she had to send back any court documents, like the ones that state which assets you want out of the marriage.

 

Talking to my lawyer last summer

"Where's your wife's response?"

Me "she never sent one"

Lawyer "then she defaulted" "We'll file for a default judgement"

 

A week before the judgement the soon to be ex came back with a list pretty much demanding every asset I had, but somehow totally forgot about the mortgage I took out to finance a business she tried to start, but failed at.

 

She instructed her lawyer to file a motion to dismiss the default judgement. I stuck to my guns and two hours before the court time she came back with 95% of the items removed from the list so I agreed just to have it done with.

 

She got a few trivial items but my comics were not part of it. I got full child custody too.

 

So now I am getting back into my hobbies that have been on the back burner for 20 or so years. I actually started to pick up some back issues which I had not done much of since the early 90's.

 

But 6 years? oh man I cannot imagine going through that. I wish you good luck and hopefully it will be resolved soon.

 

edit: P.S.I will look through my old Overstreets. I think I have them all from 1977 to 2000 something and I will see if I can find the article you speak of.

[joe_collector]

To both 1Cool and Joe Collector,

I didn't have a chance to move out the comics. She took them all out of my storage unit while I was in Afghanistan. Then lied to the police saying she didn't have them. It took about 3 months before she admitted to having them and it wasn't until 2011 that they finally became a court asset (possession taken from her). Of course by then the best books were gone like All Star #3, All American 25 etc.

 

That's pretty well what I thought happened....

 

Is there no legal protection for this type of marital theft of assets?

[1Cool]

To both 1Cool and Joe Collector,

I didn't have a chance to move out the comics. She took them all out of my storage unit while I was in Afghanistan. Then lied to the police saying she didn't have them. It took about 3 months before she admitted to having them and it wasn't until 2011 that they finally became a court asset (possession taken from her). Of course by then the best books were gone like All Star #3, All American 25 etc.

 

That's pretty well what I thought happened....

 

Is there no legal protection for this type of marital theft of assets?

 

My casa su casa. Sounds like she was forced to list them as a martial asset but my understanding is she has every right to take all of his stuff when they were married. Once you file for divorce (and separation) you get some legal protection but until then its a communal asset.

[thehumantorch]

Thanks again for the comments sympathies

 

Yep lawyers have cost about $55K so far, less than the market value of the collection but the 55K is less than the amount of money she was asking to settle out of court. When you inflate an asset like the comic collection to 180K it skews the Net Financial Property number so it makes it look like I should owe her a lot of money.

 

Thanks a ton for posting that Eric

Ends up not being the article I was thinking of though so still searching if anyone else has any ideas on where it says that you are going to get pennies on the dollar for bulk common books.

 

In my case if the collection is valued at 50K I wouldn't have to pony up anything actually. She kept everything including house so I have enough deductions that at 50K she would owe me money. Hence the reason why she is fighting so hard to have this unrealistic valuation.

 

My suggestion for those reading this and not married yet is do a full inventory before you get married, something else that is complicating matters.

 

So sorry to hear about this. Sounds like she has a very unrealistic value of the collection. Her attempts to get every penny she thinks she's entitled to is just running up the legal tab and destroying what value is there. Hope there's a reasonable resolution soon.

[comicnut]

To threeseas:

Well at least I was only married to mine for 3 years you had 20 and left you as a single Dad. Feel for ya too buddy.

 

To JoeC. Yes there is, all assets are supposed to be protected, nothing disposed of or taken. It's a criminal offence otherwise. But she still did it and it still took 2 years to get them out of her hands.

[sd2416]

It's a criminal offense otherwise.

 

Repercussions?

[comicnut]

Can't discuss those things in a public forum while ongoing.

 

[Tony S]

I didn't realize the Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide no longer had a "How To Sell Your Comics" article. I grabbed an old guide at randon - 23rd edition which would be 20 years old - and it has a four paragraph article on selling.

 

[joe_collector]

Can't discuss those things in a public forum while ongoing.

 

Understood, and man this thread is really depressing me - can't imagine actually living it.

[Gem_Mint]

So let me get this straight..

 

You have a collection of comics.

 

You marry some chick.

 

Now you both have a collection of comics.

 

You get a divorce, she has the comics, you are fighting to get your comics back.

 

1/2 are hers... because she married you... so you need to figure out FMV so that she can be compensated.

 

Something is wrong with this picture.

 

I can see if she helped procure the collection, or that her lifestyle was somewhat affected by being married to a guy with a comic collection.

 

That's just crazy.

 

she wasn't with you shooting in the gym! ... sorry

[joe_collector]

So let me get this straight..

 

You have a collection of comics.

 

You marry some chick.

 

Now you both have a collection of comics.

 

You get a divorce, she has the comics, you are fighting to get your comics back.

 

1/2 are hers... because she married you... so you need to figure out FMV so that she can be compensated.

 

Something is wrong with this picture.

 

I can see if she helped procure the collection, or that her lifestyle was somewhat affected by being married to a guy with a comic collection.

 

That's just crazy.

 

she wasn't with you shooting in the gym! ... sorry

 

you forgot the part where she sold off all the good/vintage stuff.

[comicnut]

Thanks Tony, Jordysnordy as set me up with a 34th edition guide which also has the article.

 

I did buy comics while we were married also. Problem is that she is saying that only the comics I bought while we were married are left because I sold some. Sold about $60,000 worth to some dealers like Harley, TerryO, JamieG etc. Of course there were much of the collection left as will be attested to by my witnesses.

 

Yeah sold or kept stuff like All Star #3