To secure your business, many airlines offer rewards programs. These programs allow you to accumulate points for every trip you take. You may also accrue points by using your credit card or staying at certain hotels. If you or your spouse travels for work, your miles balance may be quite valuable.
In Texas, divorcing spouses usually have equal ownership of the marital estate. If you and your soon-to-be ex-spouse earned airline miles during your marriage, your miles should probably be part of your divorce settlement.
Valuing your airline miles
Like with your home, cars, retirement accounts, and other assets, you probably want to obtain a realistic valuation of your airline miles in the lead-up to your divorce. Calculating the worth of your miles, though, can be challenging. After all, many rewards programs expressly state their miles have no cash value.
To value your airline miles, you may need to estimate the value of the perks they buy. According to Value Penguin, an insurance aggregator, the average airline mile is worth approximately 1.3 cents. Your miles may be worth more or less, however.
Settling ownership of airline miles
Unlike many other types of assets, airline miles can be challenging to split down the middle for a couple of reasons. First, your rewards program may disallow the transfer or sale of miles. Second, your airline miles may only be usable by the person who accrued them. Nevertheless, you probably have some options for making your airline miles part of your divorce settlement.
Thinking about your airline miles may put you in the right frame of mind for starting settlement negotiations. Ultimately, by carefully addressing everything you and your spouse own, you can be confident you receive what you deserve and not a penny less.