Top 12 Ways to Avoid a Costly Divorce – Part 1 of 2

Avoid a Costly Divorce Part One

Going through the divorce process is a difficult, emotional and expensive time for both parties. There is no way of avoiding the emotional consequences and high stress levels, but there are ways of minimizing the cost of your divorce.

A divorce can turn out to be a very expensive process if it is not managed properly, leaving both spouses in a financial crisis and possible bankruptcy.

However, there are simple and effective measures you can take to minimize the cost of a divorce and avoid disastrous financial consequences.

Here are the first top 6 tips for avoiding a costly divorce:

  1. Determine the result that you want before even beginning the divorce process. For example, do you want to avoid court, what type of custodial arrangement do you want and what type of custody are you realistically able to commit to. Make sure you think about these things in advance and writ e out your ideal outcome before the divorce process begins. Once you get some clarity around what you do and don’t want you will save yourself a lot of time and money.

Don’t waste your time and your attorney’s time discussing these issues. Go through it yourself and get clear and focused on your desired outcome.

  1. Don’t hide assets or income. These days there are forensic accountants that are highly trained to trace all income and assets. If you try to hide any of these you may end up losing the assets as well as having to pay punitive damages.
  2. Be careful when it comes to social media. If you are trying to pay less alimony, don’t go boasting about your new car, job or other purchased assets. If you are trying to get child custody, avoid posting pictures of yourself with a marijuana joint in your mouth.

Everyone is using social media these days and there is nothing wrong with it, just be aware that this can all be used as evidence in Court. All computers can be seized; emails retrieved and social media postings looked into during the discovery process and added as evidence. Think before you write, email or post. Just one bad move can jeopardize your whole divorce outcome.

  1. Take the emotions out of it for the time being. This is difficult to do, but it may jeopardize your outcome if you are making decisions based on feelings rather than rational, long term thinking and planning. If you are struggling with this, consider therapy or counseling. It could very well save you a lot of money in the long run.
  2. Don’t run the show – let your attorney do their job. You paid for them; they are experts, so get out of the way and let them earn their money. Too much meddling on your part can slow down the process, make it more expensive for you and frustrate the attorney.
  3. Be fair. Make a rational and equitable assessment of who should get what with a clear head. Try to think logically and fairly, rather than in a spiteful way that just fuels an already vulnerable situation and ends up just costing you more in time and legal fees.

Treat it like a business deal and put your negotiation hat on.

Stay tuned for tomorrows post about the next 6 essential tips to avoid a costly divorce.

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