“What do we do with all of this?”
The house, the finances, the custody arrangement – those are hard enough. But then you open a closet and find boxes of family photos, stacks of VHS tapes, an old camcorder with a tape still inside. Memories from a life you shared.
And suddenly you’re faced with a question nobody really prepares you for: who gets the photo albums?
Remember Whenever, is a media digitization service based in Fairfield, CT that helps customers convert old photo albums, home videos, family film reels and audio recordings into digital files.
The company helps people going through divorce more often than you might think – because separating a household has a way of surfacing all of those boxes of media that have been sitting untouched for years.
Most people don’t want to fight over these memories – they just don’t know there’s a better option.
You Don’t Have to Choose
Digitizing family media means you can create complete, identical copies of everything – every photo, every home video, every recording. Both people walk away with the full collection. Nobody loses access to their children’s childhood. The originals can be kept, passed down, or stored safely, and it doesn’t have to be a point of conflict at all.
Imagine being in the middle of a divorce, trying to divide property and finding a box of family photo albums and video tapes. One parent shouldn’t end up with all of it, leaving the other with nothing. Or worse, that the tapes would get forgotten in the chaos and lost forever.
A solution is to digitize everything. Both parents will receive a complete copy of every photo and every video.
You can remove that particular source of stress from the equation, being one less thing to negotiate and one less thing to feel hurt about.
For a legal consultation, call 203-288-7800
Why It’s More Urgent Than You Might Think
Physical media doesn’t last. VHS tapes that have been sitting in a box for 20 or 30 years are already deteriorating, and the upheaval of a move – boxes stacked in a garage, stored at a relative’s house, or simply never unpacked in a new place – is exactly how they get lost or forgotten.
And of course you have to think carefully about the kids. When children see themselves in family portraits, it helps them recognize their place in the family unit and establish their sense of self and identity. That matters in any family, but during a divorce, it matters even more.
When kids can see photos of themselves in both homes, it reinforces that they’re still part of a family. It’s just a different shape now.
High quality digital scans of photos can be reprinted and framed, put in new albums, or loaded onto a digital photo frame – so both homes can feel like home, without anyone having to divide up the originals or make difficult decisions about what stays where.
Having those memories accessible means both parents can have them displayed, without either one having to ask for anything back.
What’s Worth Prioritizing?
If you’ve got family media to sort through, here’s where to start:
- VHS tapes and home video recordings first – these degrade fastest and are the hardest to recover once they’re gone
- Photo albums and loose prints – especially older photos and anything that exists in only one copy
- Baby books and keepsake documents – anything with handwriting, notes or dates that can’t be recreated
- Film reels and slides – often from the grandparent generation, but just as much a part of your family’s story
Click to contact our family law lawyers today
One Less Thing to Fight Over
Divorce involves enough difficult decisions, but shared family memories don’t have to be one of them. Both of you can have everything – completely and permanently – and the focus can stay where it belongs.
If this is something you’re dealing with right now, you can find out more at rememberwhenever.com.
Paul Schneider is the founder of Remember Whenever, a media digitization service based in Fairfield, CT, helping families convert photo albums, home videos, slides, film and audio recordings into digital files they can keep forever.
Call or text 203-288-7800 or complete a Legal Consultation form
