Money is usually a big part of a divorce, and according to divorce lawyers, many divorcing couples make plenty of money mistakes. Which are these mistakes, and how can you avoid them? Here they are:
Rushing through the process
When most couples have decided that it’s time to part ways, they want their soon-to-be-ex out of their lives as fast as possible. The situation is even dire when physical, financial, or emotional abuse is involved.
As much as you want to start healing as soon as possible, rushing your divorce often leads to an unfair division of assets for the vulnerable spouse.
One party might try to take advantage of the other that wants the divorce to be done by convincing them to leave the relationship with less than they deserve.
Marriages indeed create a complex intermingling of assets that can be difficult to sort, but you don’t have to be a victim.
To be on the safe side, avoid being in a hurry, take your time, carefully go through the assets you have, and find out the ones that will be of value to you. To have an easy time, work with professionals to help you out.
Ignoring mediation
Mediation is a less time-consuming, cheaper, and less stressful way of settling a divorce. Through mediation, you retain more control over the outcomes of the divorce and keep your family matter private, instead of leaving matters to the judge to decide the fate of the process.
To hurt their partners as much as possible, some parties ignore mediation and go the contested divorce route.
As mentioned, you have no control over the outcome of the divorce process, so in some cases, you end up losing.
To be on the safe side, you should try mediation. Here you work closely with your attorney and partner, and reach an agreement that is a win-win.
Ignoring hidden assets
When certain parties see a looming divorce, they rush to hide assets. Often they hide them through trusts, overseas accounts, and other less sophisticated methods such as transferring the assets to trusted family members and friends.
When you ignore the hidden assets, you lose, as you don’t get a share of the assets that should be rightfully yours.
If you doubt that your partner might have hidden assets, hire an attorney or forensic attorney specializing in finding the assets and help you recover them.
The attorney will also help you get a court order requiring your spouse to answer about certain assets. The attorney will also help you pressure the financial institutions to produce records of your spouse’s account.
Misvaluing the marital assets
This is common with couples that want the divorce process to end as soon as possible. Most will value their assets based on their price, which isn’t right. For example, if you bought a house 20 years ago, it must have appreciated, right?
To ensure that you get the right valuation of the various assets, take your time and hire an experienced professional.
You should then present the valuation to the judge to help with a fair division of the said asset(s).
Accepting an unfair amount of marital debts
The same way you should be ultra-cautious about assets is the same way you should be cautious about debts.
Some parties will accumulate plenty of debts hoping that they will hide them.
Don’t accept anyone’s debts.
Work with your family lawyers Fairfax VA and ask to see your spouse’s credit reports to ensure that you don’t pay debts that you shouldn’t be paying. Carefully go through the reports and keep your eyes out for hidden consumer debts such as auto, credit card mortgage debt, personal loans, etc.
