Few people look forward to the divorce process. It takes time and money, and the situation’s emotions can be challenging for everyone involved.
While divorce may be inevitable for your situation, and you may want to just get it over with, you may make financial mistakes that come back to haunt you if you aren’t careful. Knowing what the most common financial mistakes are when filing for divorce can help you avoid them.
1. Failing to value marital assets properly
Does your spouse own a business, or do you have complex retirement accounts? If so, it’s easy to misvalue these things. To avoid this, invest in an independent valuation of larger assets to ensure the division is fair.
It’s also necessary to consider future value. Could the asset you receive depreciate when what your spouse gets appreciates? Failure to consider these factors may result in inequitable asset division.
2. Taking on an unfair amount of marital debts
You know it’s important to inventory and account for all marital assets. However, you need to do the same with your marital debts.
Getting a copy of your and your spouse’s credit report is a good place to start. Along with making sure the debts are divided fairly, it’s necessary to make sure debts that may be in both your names are paid and put in just one person’s name. If your spouse fails to pay, the creditor may come after you for payment.
Protecting your finances in a divorce
While you may not want to think about finances and similar matters during the confusion and stress of a divorce, it’s necessary. You can seek help with the property division process to ensure that you receive a fair property division outcome.