Determining Value for Jewelry?

[katie]

I know for normal household "stuff" you use like a yard sale value. But what about items like your wedding set? Our attorney said pawn shop value. (I've never been in a pawn shop so I have no idea what things sell for) Should I take my rings to a pawn shop and see what they say and get it in writing? Will they do this?

What are the chances of the trustee taking it? Our cars and house that we are keeping have no equity and we are in the state of Georgia if that matters. I do have some stock that our attorney said they would probably take. Does that automatically mean we are an "asset case".

I saw someone post earlier that the trustee wanted hers (later gave it back though). Just wondering what we were up against here.

[brokenbuthealed]

I'd go to a pawn shop just to check. I didn't have to provide any proof of value in writing with my petition though. Just to give you an idea about my experience with how they price things, I took a ring that had a retail price of like $1,600 to the pawn shop and they told me they'd give me $100 for it. I still had the tags for the ring and everything. It was a gift from someone that I only wore for about 1-2 weeks because it didn't fit.

[katie]

Wow, I had no idea the offer would be that low in comparison to the actual purchase price. That's nice to know though as I feel much better now - except for I gave my attorney a value of $4,000! I told them I had no idea of "pawn shop" value. I better check on that.

[Tromploi]

I have several diamond rings that retailed for over $10,000. I put the value at $1500. And that was probably high.

[DivorceRuinedMe]

I was probably the person you were reading about. I did the same thing - went to a pawn shop and listed the value of my ring at like $100 which is what the pawn shop said. They would NOT give this to me in writing though.

The trustee became highly suspicious of the value and told me to go and get it appraised. An appraisal costs like $100 and at that time, I literally did not have $100 to get an appraisal. I took my chances and told the trustee she could have my ring and get it appraised herself on her dime. She did and thankfully it didn't come up worth anything - I believe like $600. That plus my pathetic tax return of $400 wasn't worth it to her to distribute. So...she ended up changing me back to no asset, gave me my ring back and I got to keep the tax return. It all worked out in the end.

Had she been able to auction it, my atty said that I would be notified and that jewelry at bankruptcy auctions tends to go for super cheap. I would have been able to bid on it if I had the money at that time. I planned to do this and banked on being able to buy it back from her had she gone that route (unless it went super high at auction, I was getting my ring back one way or another).

Good luck with yours. Whatever you do - wear it to the 341. I don't normally wear mine *cash price of it new was around 9K* because of my line of work but she didn't care. She thought I was trying to hide something. I think that's why she got so suspicious.

[katie]

Yep, it was you that I read about. Mine cost new about what yours did. That is unbelievable that they only value it at $600. Georgia has a $1,000 joint exemption for jewelry so I should be safe too.

Oh and about wearing it to my 341 - I can see that. I see so many posts on here not to wear any kind of jewelry, not carry purse in, etc. But, I wondered too if that would raise more flags than just wearing or taking your stuff with you because they think you are hiding something. My ring set is in three parts (like engagement ring, wedding ring and anniversary band) so I think I could get away with just wearing one of my bands and not raise any suspicions.

Now I just need to advise my attorney of my ignorance and have them change the $4,000 amount I turned in!