Getting a divorce can be the most difficult decision of your life. Without safeguards, a divorce can consume your finances and leave you with next to nothing for your future. You could endure significant losses in your divorce if you do not take the proper steps to safeguard your financial future and plan for what’s to come. It’s not unreasonable to protect yourself, especially if you see a divorce coming. A divorce lawyer can help you make the right preparations.

It is vital to your future financial security that you make early plans to ensure your divorce doesn’t completely destroy everything you have built. While there may be many optional ways you can safeguard yourself, you may be surprised to learn that not all of them apply to you. Your most effective option may be to consult with an experienced divorce lawyer and find out what you can do for your situation. The right lawyer can make all the difference in your case.

The Importance of Protecting Your Finances

You will want your divorce to move quickly, if only so you can get it over with and start to move on. You may want to sign the papers, negotiate quickly, and separate your life from your ex’s forever. Unfortunately, divorce is rarely that simple. Divorces are often complicated, emotional, painful, and quite expensive. You will have many different things to take care of during a divorce, such as removing your ex from your estate plan and separating joint accounts.

If it looks like your divorce is going to be heavily contested, that can make things even harder. Your ex may be trying to draw things out on purpose to drain your bank account and leave you with nothing out of sheer spite. It can be a tough process to disentangle your life from your ex’s, especially if they are trying to complicate things further just to hurt you. Throughout it all, you may be so focused on the emotional harm that you don’t notice the financial harm.

How to Protect Your Finances

By the time you realize how much financial damage you have endured, it may be too late to do anything about it. Divorces can include legal fees, court costs, alimony payments, child support payments, and a significant loss of assets. Those financial losses can build up quickly. If you don’t have financial safeguards in place prior to the divorce, you could end up losing control of everything. It’s vital that you be proactive in your divorce, if only for additional protections.

According to information gathered by the CDC, the divorce rate in Missouri as of 2022 is 2.7 per 1,000 residents. Additionally, the marriage rate in Missouri as of 2023 is 5.8 per 1,000 residents, according to data from the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. If you are struggling with your divorce and financial hardships, you may want to speak with a local divorce support group like Singles Again or DivorceCare. They may be able to help you move forward.

It’s unfortunately very easy to end up being taken advantage of in your divorce if you aren’t careful. Your divorce lawyer’s primary concern is ensuring you come out of your divorce relatively unscathed. Here are some important steps you can take to protect your finances during your divorce:

  • Keeping your finances separate from the start is one of the most effective ways to prevent financial ruin in a divorce. Many couples decide to have separate bank accounts for their own reasons. It doesn’t always signify a lack of trust. Many partners want to maintain some sense of independence while also sharing a life with someone. In a divorce, having separate finances can simplify things.
  • A prenuptial agreement can be a great way to lay out terms for a divorce before things ever reach that point. A prenup can establish financial protections for both spouses, particularly if certain clauses are violated. Getting your partner to sign a prenup before marriage can be difficult, especially if they see it as a violation of your relationship or a sign of mistrust.

FAQs

Q: What Is the Primary Cause of Divorce?

A: There is no primary cause for divorce in Missouri, the United States, or even the rest of the world. Everybody who chooses to get divorced does so because their own boundaries have been violated, and trust is no longer present in their marriage. Since everybody has their own line that they don’t want to be crossed, it can be difficult to determine the primary cause of divorce. A lack of commitment, infidelity, and financial incompatibility are common reasons for divorce.

Q: What Can Guarantee I Won’t Lose Big in My Divorce?

A: There are no guarantees when it comes to a divorce settlement. The terms of the settlement may change during divorce proceedings, and certain evidence may result in you losing a substantial amount of assets. If you have significant evidence that your spouse misused marital funds to pay for an affair or engaged in abuse against you, that can go a long way toward making the settlement more favorable for you.

Q: Can a Divorce Lawyer Really Help My Case?

A: Yes, a divorce lawyer can really help your case. Divorce cases are often unpredictable and reliant on evidence that shows your spouse disrespected the marriage in some way. It may be difficult for you to find this evidence on your own. If you move forward without legal help, you may end up going against your spouse’s legal team alone, which can make things so much worse for you. A good lawyer bolsters your chances of success.

Q: Is Hiding Money from Your Spouse Illegal?

A: Yes, hiding money from your spouse in a divorce is illegal in Missouri. That’s the last thing you should ever do in your divorce case. If you are caught hiding assets from your spouse or from the court, you may face criminal charges, which may cause the court to see you as the bad guy in your divorce. The court may be reluctant to award you for such behavior.

Contact a Lawyer

At Stange Law Firm, we can help you make a divorce plan. Contact us to speak to a team member about your case.