If a divorce seems imminent there are some important steps that you should take right away to ensure that you can make it through the process without sacrificing your future.
You need to make a plan for how to budget for the various expenses during the divorce, as well as, begin to prepare for handling your financial obligations in the months and years to come.
Take control of your finances
Even if you weren’t the one responsible for managing the finances in the relationship, now is the time to take charge of your finances. Take account of what you have in your various accounts and begin to make a transition plan.
Waiting for days, weeks or even months to truly take charge of your personal finances is a recipe for disaster. You may wish to talk to your family lawyer for advice on how to manage this, and they may even refer you to an accountant or financial professional who can streamline the process for you and help get you up to speed.
Understand your debt obligations
Although debt belongs to the individual who incurred it, from a family law perspective debts are typically split between the couple in the calculations. You will therefore need to make sure that issues relating to debts are resolved during the divorce process. Keep in mind; if you financed a car and your spouse drives the vehicle, it is still your vehicle and your debt. These issues need to be addressed in the process.
It’s not enough to simply make a verbal agreement about who is responsible for what – you need to make sure your name is removed from payment obligations. Otherwise, you could have a creditor knocking on your door if your ex fails to make payments sometime down the road, or finding yourself without credit to make another purchase.
Protect your credit
The last thing you want is for your credit score to take a nosedive as a result of your divorce. This means making all the right financial decisions from a legal perspective. Again, it’s wise to bring in a professional who can help you figure things out. It doesn’t pay to try to improvise and suddenly get caught with a financial burden for years to come.
In short, the best course of action to take with your budget is to start planning ahead right away. Sure, there are a lot of things to think about and to plan when preparing for a divorce, but investing the time in putting together a budget with some help from experienced professionals goes a very long way.
If you have any questions or concerns, don’t hesitate to reach out to the family lawyers at Epstein & Associates. We’ve helped many clients through rough patches so that they can face the future with newfound optimism!