Don't Miss the Devilish Divorce Details
The Devil is In the Details - Especially in Divorce!
April is National Financial Literacy Month. So how does this affect you and your divorce? Should it?
"Time is more valuable than money. You can get more money but cannot get more time." ~Jim Rohn
The harsh reality is that without proper financial guidance, a divorce can cost you both precious time and money. All too often we see couples, even those working amicably, decide to just "split everything down the middle and walk away." Or worse yet, some couples waste time and money fighting over things that either can't be divided or shouldn't be.
"An investment in knowledge pays the best interest." ~ Benjamin Franklin
The fact is that without fully understanding the types of financial accounts you both own, the marital value of each of them, the tax consequences of dividing them and if it's even possible to do so, or simply verifying exactly what debt has been incurred in your name; costly and potentially irreversible mistakes will almost certainly happen.
"When you work on something that only has the capacity to make you 5 dollars, it does not matter how harder you work - the most you will make is 5 dollars." ~ Idowu Koyenikan
Understanding the value and/or potential value of your marital estate is the first step in reaching a fair agreement and/or identifying which items may (or may not) be worth fighting for. If an asset is only worth $5, no amount of arguing about it is going to change its value or future potential.
So how do you identify what you have, how much it's worth and whether or not it should be divided 50/50? The devil is in the details and, in divorce, those details really matter.
Make sure your divorce team includes, at a minimum, an attorney, a financial specialist in divorce and a mental health expert. Even if you decide to divorce cooperatively, having a legal expert draft your legal agreement and having a financial expert analyze the financial aspects of your divorce will likely serve to save you much priceless time, energy and money.
Divorce doesn't have to be financially devastating. We can help.