“Why me?”

“How would I spend the rest of my life?”

“How bleak would my life be, after divorce?”

The soon-to-happen divorce pops up such dreadful queries in minds of anyone, more often women in every society. When a deeply knitted emotional relationship is on the rocks, the future seems to be dark and stressful. But it is not the time to have your head in the sand. Avoiding the truth can’t change the reality. So instead of closing your eyes to the ugly fact, you need to be bold enough to face it head on. 

Divorce is not supposed to be carried out in an uncivilized manner always. A bit of your care and planning can save you and your broken family from many hassles. Though the relationship is at stake, but it’s time to decide how to divide the assets and property equally between the parting spouses. This is essentially important in order to get the financial strength that makes your living possible even after a divorce. You have given a lot to the relationship and so you do deserve a respectable life afterwards. Glance down some smart ways below to understand what it requires to finance your divorce.

Understand the Property Type

Before planning your finances in a divorce, try to figure out how much property is “joint” or “separate”. The joint or marital property is divided as per the respective state’s laws. So, the primary thing for you is to understand the property type with respect to the laws in the state you are dwelling. The separate property is not divided by the court. It includes inherited property, the assets owned before marriage, or the property owned as a gift or decided through a prenuptial agreement. Such pre or post nuptial agreements are very efficient ways to tackle down the painful crisis and are accepted by the state laws too. 

Get the Records in Black and White

Whatever is in your name or owned jointly, bring it on paper. Particularly, if your spouse is acrimonious, be smart in gathering all the proofs in black and white. Don’t ever rely on electronic documents, as the passwords might be changed or locked by the ruling spouse as a result of resentment. These records must include property documents, bank statements, tax files, financial statements or other such documents signed in last 3 to 5 years. If you and your spouse used to have a joint business, the same precaution implies on that too. 

Take the Right Help

Financial planning is not that easy. It involves a lot of technicalities to be figured out rightly. There’s nothing wrong in hiring financial divorce mediators for your help. These mediators have expertise in sorting out the financial calculations as well as make the ways out to bring the parting spouses on table to settle down an agreement. Don’t fret over the cost in case of hiring such a help. Such mediators actually cut down the overall cost of divorce budgeting by getting the agreements signed even out of the court. They also give you advises on dealing with legal matters like paying the court-ordered attorney fees, identifying debt obligations and other such important matters.

Calculate the Tax Amount

Don’t be a goof by getting the pre-tax money happily. The spouse paying the alimony is exempted from tax and the one receiving the amount is under tax liability. So, calculate your tax amounts smartly. Also, the gains obtained on bonds or stocks are also tax payable. Rather than fighting over petty stuff, focus on getting the big advantages.

Save some Money

Be prepared for the worst from your spouse. Sometimes, as a revenge too, spouse tries to leave the counterpart in a vulnerable situation by leaving them without a penny. Don’t rush into a divorce decision prior to keeping yourself in a safe position. Set up an individual account to manage your finances in order to cover up the essential daily expenses. Particularly if you are accompanied with your children, you definitely require a handsome amount of money in your own account to manage all the financial debts.

Degree and Job: Your Best Future Support

Last but not the least is to think through your source of living. Way before filing a divorce, focus on completing your degree, polishing your professionally required skills and getting a job as soon as possible. Both education and job give you empowerment that will be helpful for the rest of your life. Financial autonomy is more important especially if you have to support your children. Even this will be a favorable point for the attorneys while deciding about your case. Also in the long run, it will pay you off tremendously in terms of a better standard of living for your children especially.

I agree, divorce is a nasty decision that has lifelong impacts on the entire family. But a smart little planning to finance your divorce can save you from never ending fights over the petty matters. After all the sacrifices you made in your marriage, now you deserve the shares on equal basis for a peaceful and contented future.