When it comes to your divorce, it can be difficult to divide things up fairly. A lot of times, people assume that dividing assets fairly always means equally. But is it fair to split something that your partner did not contribute to? If you don’t believe so, then you may want to look at these tips for protecting finances through your divorce.
Protecting Finances Through Your Divorce
Open Your Own Accounts
One of the first steps in protecting finances through your divorce is to open accounts in your name. In many cases, couples just have checking and savings accounts with their spouse. But as you go through your divorce, you’ll need to begin to manage your finances separately. You should start by opening an individual checking and savings account, with only your name on it. Then, you should set aside an amount of money to move into each account. But do not do this without letting your spouse know. If you do these things secretly, they may accuse you of hiding assets.
Close Joint Credit Accounts
One of the most important aspects of protecting finances is to close joint credit accounts. Until closed, your soon-to-be ex can continue charging to your credit accounts. And while you may not be the one doing the spending, your name is on the account. Which is all the creditors care about, so they can therefore hold you responsible. In order to avoid accumulating debt that you didn’t charge yourself, you’ll want to close out all of these accounts. In the event that you can’t close them, try to change the signature requirements. That means switching the requirements so that you and your spouse must both sign in order to complete a purchase.
Know the Details of Your Retirement Plans
If you are going through a middle-aged divorce, then your retirement plan can be one of your biggest assets. Since these are one of your biggest assets, this is a big part of protecting finances. So before filing, you’ll want to know the details of both of your retirement plans. Make sure you know the necessary steps to protect your plan.
File At the Right Time
Another important part of protecting finances is choosing to file at the right time. Before you file for divorce, you want to be in a the right financial position to do so. That means being able to afford the legal fees and cost of your divorce, plus the cost of living on a single income. You want to factor those costs up before filing or you may get yourself into a serious financial bind.