Tips from Divorce Lawyers on Dissolving Your Marriage
When a marriage has gone sour, things can become quite toxic during the divorce proceedings. As such, the spouses tend to make rash decisions rooted in emotion rather than thinking of how this could impact the rest of their lives one a judge makes a decree. It is crucial at this time to have legal counsel, as the divorce lawyers will be able to be level headed and hopefully help you keep your financial wits about you. Here are some of the tips that could come in handy to ensure you are making the right decisions during the dissolution of your marriage.
Prepare a realistic budget
If you are seeking temporary maintenance as the divorce proceedings are going on, you need to ensure that you prepare a budget that is not only realistic, but truthful too. A common mistake spouses make is estimating the budget due to inadequate records or perhaps are just feeling too lazy to compute all the expenses. What may occur is that the budget that you put forward for the Pendente Lite may be grossly inaccurate and the court-approved amount will not be able to make ends meet. At this juncture, it is best to enlist the services of a financial advisor who can professionally account for your monthly budget. Additionally, do not be tempted to inflate the budget either as your spouse can move to have this audited to ensure that it is within reasonable means.
Insure your divorce settlement
This is something most people do not consider. Once the judge has ruled, you will find the spouses will go their own ways and will assume that they will either be paying or receiving alimony for the rest of their life. This is not set in stone as life happens. In the event that your ex-spouse dies, then the spousal support they were providing will die with them too. Unless you have had the sum insured! Premature death can mean an inability of supporting yourself, paying for tuition and more. When taking out life insurance for your spousal support, ensure the policy owner is named as you. Thus, in the event that your spouse stops paying the premiums, you can be alerted in good time and take the necessary legal recourse to remedy this.
Do not be rigid about the marital home
A common mistake people make is fighting for the marital home for sentimental reasons. However, if you will not be receiving the same amount of income, as you were as a couple before, the marital home could be well beyond your financial reach. This is especially true if it is still on a mortgage. Assess your financial situation before fighting to keep the marital home.
Talk to a divorce lawyer like Allen & Rector for assistance.