Negotiate your way to a cheaper divorce

We know that we are going through a tough economic time, but it must seem even harder if it’s the credit card bill which is stopping you file for divorce. It’s ok for the celebrities like, Phil Collins, Paul McCartney and Alex Rodriguez who can afford great big divorce settlements but where does that leave the rest of us?

Well a lot of couples are still living together as their marriages breakup, they are scared about un-employment, soaring food and energy prices and credit cards bills. But if you stuck in a loveless unhappy marriage, that’s really not going to help you either, the children will suffer and finances will not improve overnight.

There are all sorts of people out there now to help you through the financial process and stress of divorce, from forensic accountants, mediators and divorce financial planners, so here is a quick guide as to how to use them, and how to share the money equally without having to pay fortunes in court costs.

Firstly, make sure you know exactly where you and your spouse stand, add up all the credit card bills, find how much the house is worth in today’s market, if you think your spouse is hiding money then you can get a specialist like a forensic accountant who will make sure all assets are firmly on the table.

Make sure you seek tax and financial advice, these guys will work on all financial like structure alimony, retirement transfers, and home sales and to plan for all your tax issues, financial advice is much different to legal advice so make sure you get help in all areas.

Generally one spouse keeps the house in a divorce, normally the wife if there are children involved, do not kid yourself that you can afford to keep up the repayments on the property if you can’t, sometimes it’s better to sell the house and maybe downgrade into something you can afford, again this is something a financial adviser will help you with.

If you have children who are at college, and you will be paying fees, make sure you work out the percentage each spouse will pay, agree on a budget based on what institutions are charging today, keep in mind inflation.

You should also think of kick-out clauses, what happens if one spouse looses their job, or suddenly wins the lottery, you should ask you legal adviser about this.

One of the most important is to mediate, most divorces do not end up in court, and so if you can negotiate your finances, the custody and the house yourself then you will both be saving huge lawyer fees. It’s always advisable to let a lawyer look over any agreement you make before signing anything.

We hope these points help you know that divorce is the only answer and you hope to not have to use the courts to battle it out, if anyone has anything to add please feel free.

Source: reuters