When going through divorce, money is a significant, and understandable, concern. You may wonder about spousal support, child support, asset division, debt division, how you will live on a single income and many more worries that may come up regarding your financial affairs as a result of your divorce.
Having these concerns, and understanding that they are valid concerns from the beginning of your case, could go a long way in helping you understand the outcomes for which you may need to strive. It can also help you prepare for your case to move forward.
Financial preparations
One of the first steps you need to take during divorce is to gain information on your current financial affairs. This task will include looking into your personal finances, your spouse’s finances and household finances. It will also prove beneficial to understand what assets fall into the category of marital assets and which are separate. However, you may want to remember that ownership may not always be as obvious as you think.
In addition to understanding your marital and separate property, you will also benefit from understanding your debts. Marital debt is also divisible during divorce, so having information about those debts could help you determine whether you could end up saddled with outstanding balances and whether you could use debt division as a negotiation tool later.
Close joint accounts
Hopefully, gathering your financial information will allow you to see all of the accounts you have open, whether in your name or jointly with your spouse. If you have joint credit accounts, you may want to close or freeze those accounts as soon as possible after making the decision to divorce. By taking this action, you may prevent your spouse from accumulating an obscene amount of debt in efforts to make you liable for a portion of that debt later.
You may not think your spouse would not take such vengeful actions, but it still wiser to be safe than sorry.
Further preparations
The exact preparations you make regarding your finances and divorce may differ due to your unique situation. If you are not sure what actions could best help you, you may want to discuss this concern with your family law attorney. This legal professional could give you insight into what information may prove most useful during property division proceedings and other aspects of your case.