Preparing For Divorce Financially: Key Considerations
While any divorce can bring with it a variety of changes and new considerations to your life, one of the most important actions you can take during your Morris County divorce is to work with a financial consultant and a financial planner. This is for a wide variety of reasons (which we will discuss below), but the good news is that our Morris County divorce attorneys regularly consult with exactly these types of professionals.
So not only can we recommend you the services of effective and knowledgeable financial consultants, we will also easily be able to integrate their work with you into your divorce settlement agreements such as child support, alimony, and the division of assets in order to ensure that these agreements are fair to you, and accurately reflect your unique financial needs and concerns.
Your Finances and Your Divorce Settlement Agreements
Before we can even begin the negotiation process for key divorce issues like child support, alimony, and marital asset division, we will first need to make a thorough assessment of both you and your spouse’s assets, debts, income, and expenditures.
It is important that you fully understand the value of the assets you possess such as your home, and other complex assets such as residential or commercial properties, your family business or any business interests you may have, and assets such as bank accounts, investments, retirement funds, or stocks.
In addition, it is also important to have an accurate understanding of any debts you may hold individually or jointly with your spouse. By accurately valuing these assets and debts, our Chester divorce lawyers can better work towards securing divorce settlements which are fair to you, and help you set the building blocks for a successful financial future moving forward.
Beyond the critical nature of valuing these assets and debts in order to reach fair divorce agreements, if those same assets and debts are inaccurately valued at the time of your divorce, it opens the door for a number of potentially expensive and stressful post-divorce proceedings down the road if and when it is discovered that your divorce agreements were based on inaccurate information.
Planning for Your Financial Future after Divorce
So not only can working with financial consultants and planners help us to secure you the divorce settlement agreements which accurately reflect you and your family’s financial situation and needs, it will then also allow you to begin planning for your financial future moving forward.
- What expenses can you expect to have?
- How much financial support can you expect to pay or receive for some of those expenses?
- Will you need to sell some of your assets in order to cover these expenses, or potentially seek new or further employment?
- How will your divorce settlement agreements affect your personal finances moving forward?
These are all extremely important questions to ask, and have answered, in order to make the most informed financial decisions possible moving forward.
Before You File: Financial Tips Before Divorce
A divorce is emotionally and financially stressful. The funds that are usually used in one household are suddenly split between two households. However, there are some things that you can do before you file for divorce to shore up your finances and get ready for the road ahead. These tips can help you when you file for divorce in New Jersey.
1. Keep records: Financial fitness before divorce starts with knowing what assets you have. Be sure that you have access to all of your bank accounts and investment records. While you can request these records in the discovery process, having statements on hand gives you evidence that the accounts exist and provides a baseline for their value. Knowing how to access your financial records can help you advocate for your best interests later in family law court.
2. Don’t hide assets: Both parties have a right to an accurate accounting of their finances in a divorce. Under New Jersey law, if one party takes steps to hide or conceal assets from the other, a court can hold them in contempt and dish out other negative legal consequences. It’s important to fight for a fair distribution of the assets. However, dishonesty by hiding assets right before a divorce may result in severe penalties and loss for the person responsible.
3. Create an emergency reserve: In any period of change, it’s helpful to have emergency savings. At a minimum, a divorce comes with filing fees. You also may have moving fees or expenses for replacement household items. Saving a few extra dollars can help give you a fresh start.
4. Don’t shed assets: It can be tempting to make big purchases leading up to a divorce. If these purchases are unilateral, and they deplete the marital assets, it can mean trouble in court. Eventually, parties need to address things like splitting accounts and changing beneficiaries. However, now is not the time to be making large financial decisions. Gathering financial records and thinking long term can help you handle the financial challenges that accompany divorce.
Contact Our Morris County Divorce and Family Law Firm Today
For these reasons, our attorneys regularly consult with financial consultants and planners during many different family law matters. While we work with you to secure resolutions which are fair and accurately reflect your family’s unique situation, needs, and concerns, we can only do so when you and our attorneys both have the most accurate and complete information possible.
We also understand that divorce can represent drastic changes to your lifestyle and financial obligations, so we work to make sure that these changes are fully understood by you and our attorneys, and that the agreements we help you reach make sense for you and your family’s financial stability and future..
To speak with our attorney team today in a free and confidential consultation regarding your divorce, a post-divorce modification, and how we can help you to protect and plan for you and your family’s financial future, please contact us online.