Preparing for a Divorce? – 5 Expert Bits of Advice to Keep in Mind

Needless to say, divorce is no walk in the street – it requires a lot of decisions, strength to practise them and patience to complete the process peacefully. 

Simply put, the emotional toll that a divorce takes on you has no match; the internal scars that it causes has no bounds. A separation of any kind, thus, asks a lot of internalising and planning from your end. 

That said, before you get on an emotional train, let’s face it – you need to be practical. This means, you need to look at your legal options and try to get the best negotiation for yourself. After all, you got to look after yourself after the near traumatic event.

So, before you get into the ‘signing the documents’ stage, you need to be pre-prepared about certain bits to ensure the process is carried out smoothly. You might also want to look up US divorce records to find information pertaining to your situation.

With the same aim, in this article, we’ve put together a few important points that can help you understand what needs to be done and what doesn’t before getting a divorce.

Let’s take a look! 

1. Start by Getting Organised

It is highly likely that many women take advice about financial matters from their spouses, which keeps them in the dark regarding any financial situation. They might also be unaware about the number of transactions and bank accounts that their spouses have maintained so far. 

In that case, you need to be fully aware of these established transactions, bank balances and accounts in your name before you get divorced. This is so, because during separation, you can save a lot of money on a forensic accountant or while making changes to your divorce settlements after the said accounts are later dissolved.  

That’s not all. This knowledge can also help you freeze joint accounts, if you have any and it becomes necessary to, or is mandatory in your region. This is why you need to start by getting organised with your finances and other related documents. 

2. Find The Right Lawyer

Deciding on the right kind of lawyer is the most important part of this process because they are the only way you can get negotiations in your favour. This is because if you choose an expert in the same field (a family lawyer in this case) then you do not have to worry about the proceedings so much. 

While at it, consider the amount of experience that the solicitor has especially in the family area. Know his approach and propose collaborative divorce, where the spouses can agree on as many issues as possible to reduce expense litigation and to save time.

Lastly, know beforehand if your lawyer is willing to argue for you in the court, if it comes to that. 

3. Take an Accountant’s Help

Contrary to the belief, accountants can do much more than your taxes. Meaning, they can easily help you understand a person’s financial position by looking into their books. 

What’s more, they can also plan and project a post-divorce budget plan for you. You might require this kind of insight because generally, for many women when they go through a divorce, it means a reflective and noticeable decrease in their income. 

Decreased income, however, can also lead you to downsizing and moving to an affordable home. In this case, an accountant can suggest you liquidate assets to make the transition a tad easier.

4. Update Your Resume

Moms generally take a step back from the workplace to look after their children and might fixate themselves in the comfort of their house. However, now is the time to remove the dust off of those old files and update your resume with relevant experiences. 

This is necessary because now, after the divorce, you need to be able to finance yourselves and your kids until they are ready to be out there, in the real world. 

5. Be on your Best Behaviour

Divorce is a huge transition and for it to go smoothly, you need to be patient and welcoming of anything unknown and have yourself under control. 

What this means is that you shouldn’t involve yourself in any other romantic relationships until the process is fully complete. 

Moreover, you kids are also to be taken care of; meaning, you shouldn’t let the frustration of the proceedings reflect on them, since that is the most natural thing that humans do. 

Lastly, you need to be careful about what you say and the way you behave in the proceedings, because this very aspect can massively affect the final decisions of the court.

In a Nutshell… 

Mental peace and harmony should be on top of your priority list, and if separation is something that is the only way out of a relationship, you need to do it. 

True, it is a long process and involves a lot of segments emotionally, physically and money-wise. This is why you need to keep the above things in mind after you have decided there’s no other way – after all, nothing is more important than peace for yourself!