Four Tips To Protect Your Money During A Divorce

As anyone who has split from their spouse knows quite well, getting a divorce can definitely be a stressful and draining experience. However, with some proper planning, there’s no reason why a divorce has to take as much out of you financially as emotionally. While it can be difficult to settle on things like child support, visitation and who gets the beloved family dog, it’s quite possible to make smart and sound decisions that will protect your assets. The following tips can help you to protect your money during a divorce:

Separate your funds

Just as you have separated from your spouse, you’ll also want to separate your finances as soon as possible, ABC News notes. If you have a joint checking account with your soon-to-be-ex-spouse, close it. The same goes for credit cards and any other lines of credit you might share. One of the last things you need during a divorce proceeding is to be stuck with the other person’s debts that came up after you decided to split.

Learn all you can about your money

In many marriages, it’s common for one spouse to handle all the finances. If you are the one who never paid a bill or opened up a credit card statement, it’s high time you learned about your money. If you and your ex-to-be are getting along pretty well, all things considered, you can try sitting down with him or her and going over all of your finances. If things are not quite as rosy, you might have to rely on tax records or bank statements to get a good idea of where the money goes.

You also want to learn how much money typically comes in each month; this will help you to fairly divide your assets. If this process isn’t going well or you think your spouse is lying or hiding information from you, Ladies Home Journal suggests hiring a divorce financial analyst; these professionals are really great at finding and determining assets and making sure everything is on the up and up.

Gather up your documents

During a divorce it’s pretty much impossible to have too many documents, Forbes notes. Make copies of all of your tax returns — as many as you can get your hands on — as well as your credit card statements, your car registration, insurance policies, bank statements, mortgage deeds, and anything else you can think of that has to do with finances. The more official financial records you have, the easier it will be to determine where you stand financially and work to split things up.