How to Financially Prepare for Divorce

The determination to pursue a New Jersey divorce likely will be one of the most important decisions you make during the course of your lifetime. In order to best protect your vital legal interests in a marriage dissolution case, you must be fully prepared on all fronts. This includes taking certain steps to ensure that you are financially prepared for your divorce. Before diving deeper into financially preparing for a marriage dissolution, understand that an experienced New Jersey divorce lawyer can answer any questions you may have about fully protecting yourself during the process.

There are six primary strategies you will want to consider undertaking to financially prepare for divorce. These are:

• Know your assets
• Know your liabilities
• Prepare a budget
• Save money
• Reduce spending
• Open accounts in your name

A crucial step you need to take to prepare for divorce is to truly know your assets. Your New Jersey divorce lawyer will need this information in order to prepare the initial set of documents for your marriage dissolution case. New Jersey divorce law requires these types of disclosures to be made to the court and to the “other side” in the case.

Moreover, you need to know your assets so that you can commence appropriate financial planning. This includes financial planning for the period of your divorce case itself. It also includes financially planning for your proverbial new life following the end of your marriage.

On a related note, you also need to know the extent of your debts and other liabilities as part of the process of financially preparing for your divorce. You need to have this data in order to financially prepare for life during divorce proceedings and for after the end of your case. As is the case with your assets, your New Jersey divorce lawyer will need to submit this information to the court as well as to the other party.

You may have paid lip service to preparing a budget in the past. When your marriage is coming to an end, you have to do more than merely talk about budgeting. You actually need to get down and do the hard work associated with preparing a realistic budget. A New Jersey divorce lawyer may be able to recommend some resources you can access in order to prepare a realistic budget for the period of time while the marriage dissolution case is pending. In addition, legal counsel can assist you in accessing resources to aid in budgeting once your divorce becomes final and you are beginning a whole new life.

In most divorce cases, the parties experience a negative hit to their overall financial status. They experience a downward alteration in the manner in which they have become accustomed to live their lives.

An important step that needs to be taken to financially prepare for a divorce is to work to save money. By taking saving money seriously, you place yourself in the best position to lessen the negative impact on your finances that has the potential for occurring during and after a marriage dissolution case.

On a related note, in addition to increasing your savings, you will want to reduce spending as part of preparing for divorce. If you are like most people, you have areas in which you can cut back on the amount of money you spend on a regular and recurring basis.

Another aspect of preparing for divorce is opening accounts in your name. If you are like most people who have been married, you have joint accounts with your spouse.

There are a number of reasons why you need to open your accounts in preparation for your divorce. These include opening credit card accounts in order to begin to establish your own credit.

You need to be certain that you do not run afoul of any New Jersey divorce laws when you embark on an endeavor to establish your own accounts. Your New Jersey divorce lawyer can assist you in ensuring that you remain in compliance with the law when you begin the process of opening your own account. Call us today for an appointment at 201-845-7400.