Advice for creating financial security while going through a divorce.
As you go through the divorce process, you need an in-depth understanding of your financial issues and situation. If you weren’t involved in managing your family’s finances, or if it’s been a challenge for you to do so, consider hiring a financial professional to help during the divorce process – and afterwards if necessary, particularly if your financial situation is a complicated one.
Although there can be many financial issues that will keep you up at night during divorce, if you’re like most people, most divorcing people’s concerns boil down to one or more of the following:
- Am I going to be financially OK – today and in the future?
- Will I ever be happy again – and when will that be?
- Are my children going to be permanently damaged by this divorce?
The second two items are beyond the scope of this article – but you’ll find lots of great information on these topics at www.DivorceMag.com. So let’s consider the first item: essentially, financial security during and after divorce.
For most separated and newly-divorced individuals, a major concern is how to maintain positive cash flow – in other words, to have enough money coming in to be able to pay all your bills in a timely fashion. During and after divorce, there may be a number of potential sources of income to help you keep your bank balance from turning negative, including: your own income from employment, spousal support, child support, division of marital property, accessing or liquidating separate property, and dipping into retirement accounts.
If you’ll have no trouble covering all your expenses – including divorce-related expenses, such as divorce attorney fees or bills from your financial expert – using only your own income from employment, congratulations! However, most people find that there’s “still some month left at the end of their money”; if this describes your situation, you should consider hiring a financial professional who specializes in divorce financial issues to analyze your situation and make recommendations about what you can do to improve it. An experienced divorce financial professional should be worth every penny you pay them in terms of helping you sort out your finances, create a budget, and figure out how to move your accounts out of the red and into the black, if necessary.
If your employment income is insufficient to meet your needs, you’ll have to look at one of the other sources of income described above.
For more information about financial issues and divorce, please go to http://www.divorcemag.com/financial-issues.
