In our court-approved division of assets, the handgun was mine. Yet when I went to retrieve it from the house, she all of the sudden "didn't know where it was." I knew she was lying, but I took a few days to think about it.

After a few days, I wrote her a short email and said, "I understand the gun is missing. Things happen; I understand. But if it's used in the commission of a crime, I don't want it to be traced back to me, so I'll be reporting the gun to the police as missing/stolen. As they do their paperwork, they'll probably want to ask you a few questions since you were the last one in possession of it." Within 24 hours, she told me that she had "found" the gun and I got it without incident.

There are lots of variations on this theme; your mileage may vary. What creative solutions have you found to get your stuff back from your ex/STBX?