4. Plan for the Future.
Speaking of the future, try to stay positive and think ahead. We know it may be difficult, but it’s better to focus on this now rather than later.
Your retirement plans may have just changed dramatically. Was your retirement income based on your spouse’s savings? Start looking at how you plan on dividing your individual retirement accounts and 401(k) plans. If you’re under the age of 59½ it’s crucial to look at potential tax consequences.
How long have you been married for? The duration of your marriage could also have an impact on your retirement finances. If you’ve been married for more than 10 years then one of you could receive Social Security benefits from the other, regardless of either of you getting remarried. Don’t worry, if you think your former spouse is planning on doing this it won’t mean they’ll get a portion of your check, your benefits won’t change!
Trusts or life insurance policies should be assessed now, too. If you’ve geared any towards providing for your spouse or dependents, it’s time to review them, especially if you want to change your beneficiary information.
1 thought on “Getting a Divorce? 6 Financial Tips to Keep You Going!”
All this is very informative, and deserves to be remembered. The one really big obstacle is the attorney, and his cooperation and HONESTY. My attorney and my former spouse’s were in cahoots with each other, and the way they handled this was to delay answers from letters that were sent, deny that letters were sent as they didn’t receive it, go on vacation for a few days, delay answering important mail, and anything else that could be a hitch in completing the job quickly and to the best of their ability. I guess these two reprobates learned how to make money, but never protected their client. My attorney, who had questions on the real estate, that went unanswered, called my real estate agent to get an answer, then billed me for the time. He was NO WINNER. This person was recommended by another attorney. Too bad I didn’t check out both attorneys from the beginning. I say that $40,000.00 was a lot of frivolous waste of my hard earned dollars. I only worked forty some years before deciding to divorce this narcissist, who died three years after the divorce was final. Too bad it wasn’t before that. BTW, I never found out the amount of how much the attorney for my former husband fleeced him for.