Five ways to protect post-divorce financial stability

Divorce can be scary from both an emotional and a financial standpoint. You might lose your sense of normalcy and feel like your life is riddled with uncertainty, leaving you fearful of how you’re going to get by in the months and years ahead. Although you might’ve heard horror stories about marriage dissolutions gone wrong, yours doesn’t have to go that route.

Instead, there are concrete steps that you can take to protect your future and your stability. To properly take them, you need to put in the proper amount of preparation and understand how the law applies to your case. We hope this post will provide some insight in that regard, especially as it pertains to shielding your post-divorce financial health.

How to protect your financial stability during divorce proceedings

There’s no doubt that the outcome of your divorce is going to shape your financial positioning for a long time to come. So, how can you protect yourself? Here are some steps to think about taking:

1. Obtain your own bank account: If you share an account with your spouse, then you should open your own account so that you can better establish your spending patterns separate from those of your spouse. This can also make it easier to tuck away some money to help you get by once you and your spouse separate so that you’re not drowning once divorce proceedings begin.
2. Create an asset inventory: Marital assets are going to be divided in your divorce in accordance with state law, but you’re not going to know what that looks like unless you have a firm understanding of the assets in play. Be sure to look for signs of hidden assets, too, such as large unexplained transactions or the retitling of certain property. Also take note of your own assets that you might be able to separate from the property division process.
3. Build a case for alimony: If your spouse earned more money than you did during your marriage, and you made significant contributions to the marriage, then you might be entitled to spousal support. Before you’ll be awarded alimony, though, you’ll need to show that it’s deserved. Therefore, look for ways to demonstrate that you gave up your job or career advancement to help raise a family or support your spouse as well as ways to prove your marital standard of living.
4. Consider child support: If you’re going to end up with primary physical custody of your children, then you need to think about how to get as much child support as you can from your spouse. To do so, gather evidence showing what your child needs to maintain their standard of living and to support their best interests.
5. Create a budget: Even with support, your income is probably going to be dramatically reduced post-divorce. To ensure that you can make ends meet, create a budget that’s realistic about your income and your debts. Once this is place, you can look for ways to cut costs or increase your income so that you have greater financial stability.

Build your divorce case with an eye on the future

It’s easy to get tangled up in the immediate emotions drawn out by the divorce process, but you should try to keep your eye on the future. By creating a strong divorce strategy, you can give yourself direction and comfort knowing that you’ve put a plan in place to secure the financial resources you need. That way you’ll confidently move onto the next chapter of your life and focus on building the future that you want for yourself and your children.