Divorce settlements are financial and custodial agreements between a married couple. These settlements determine how assets and child custody are divided and are critical to the divorce process. These settlements are often mediated by lawyers and can take months to sort out. If you are going through a divorce settlement, it is important to have legal representation on hand to look out for your best interests. But you can do other things to make the most of your situation.
Discuss Finances Before Meetings
Even before you enter into legal proceedings and pay lawyers to handle your settlement process, it's wise to talk with your spouse and determine where you both stand financially. This will save you both money from lawyer costs by expediting the settlement process. Figure out each of your incomes, how much money you have saved up, where you plan to live, what assets you can easily divide, and so on. Leave the lawyers to handle the gray areas.
Change Tax Status
When the divorce settlement begins, it is wise to change your tax filing status with your employer. The best option is to designate yourself as being married filing separately. You will lose the tax break associated with marriage, but it is better to have this affect your taxes withheld now rather than at the end of the tax year, when you will owe much more in taxes than you've had withheld and be forced to write a sizable check. In addition, any taxes earned or filed as a married couple filing jointly are the shared liability of both individuals, making you liable for your spouse's unpaid taxes, if such an event occurs.
Use Property Checklists
Virtually everything owned by a married couple--unless one party has signed a pre-nuptial agreement--is up for grabs in a divorce settlement. This goes for debts as well as assets, but there are scenarios in which your spouse's debt may not be shared by you, particularly if credit was applied for solely by the other spouse. A checklist allows you both to take stock of your individual financial situations and determine how assets and debts can be allocated evenly. These checklists are often provided by attorneys and lawyers and include land property, cars, credit card debts, mortgages, investments and insurance. This also reduces the risk of missing certain assets or debts and can make the settlement process move faster.
