What are some inside divorce tips for those considering the end of their marriage? You’ve probably been thinking about things for quite a while. You’re concerned about the impact a divorce will have upon you, your children and your circle of family and friends.
You will need some practical inside divorce tips to help you to get prepared while avoiding potentially costly and time consuming mistakes.
The first step is to take the time to organize and thoroughly evaluate every asset, every account, every debt, credit cards and/or retirement accounts and pensions. Pull statements for as much as the past three years. Take some time to really understand where things stand and to look for anything unusual.
Pull together tax returns for the past three years. There is information which is quite valuable to protect your interests and to ensure your soon-to-be former spouse isn’t attempting to hide something.
Another of the most important inside divorce tips is to get a good ballpark estimate of the genuine value of your most important assets. This is usually the family home, retirement vehicles and any business or professional practice. Start by using online resources to identify the present value of houses in your area which you believe are comparable to your own. Many easily accessed websites provide present market prices as well as the selling price of recently sold homes.
Retirement vehicles are quite often considered to be marital property. Gather all information regarding each 401(k), IRA, pension or other retirement account. You will need to know the date the retirement asset was opened. If the account was opened prior to your marriage find out the balance on or before your wedding day if possible.
Any interest in a business or professional practice will need to be carefully appraised and a valuation must be established before the Court. This is a complex legal and financial issue and is why it is so important to work with the Divorce and family law attorneys at Dodd & Dodd.
A couple of final important inside divorce tips are to conduct yourself honestly and develop a strategy for how you will handle communications and decisions without emotion. You owe a legal fiduciary duty to your spouse until the date the divorce is complete. You are required by law and by duty to make full, transparent and accurate disclosures of all financial information. Those who try to hide or under-value assets or use their business to disguise income will face harsh rebuke and financial sanctions from the Court.
There are many ways to forensically find hidden money, accounts, assets or to establish accurate valuations for each asset. Attempts to mislead a spouse or the Court result in sanctions usually far exceeding the amount a person tried to hide.
Emotional decisions are almost universally poor decisions. Emotional communications can and will come back to harm your interests during any divorce. Develop a strategy to refrain from any text, email, voicemail or social media post whenever you are anything but calm, cool and collected. The Judge in your case will be watching and analyzing both parties carefully. How you handle yourself will go a long way toward determining the outcome and whether or not you will accomplish your goals.
We invite you to review the strong recommendations of our former clients and contact us or call 502-584-1108 to schedule an appointment with one of our experienced divorce and family law attorneys.
