If you’re not planning on a do it yourself divorce, then the proceedings can get expensive. Depending on how combative your soon-to-be-ex is, they could get very expensive, in fact. And any time lawyers are involved with more than simply helping you learn how to file for divorce on your own, then look out. Costs can climb from the hundreds into the thousands, all before the assets are ever divided.
That’s why we’ve put together some financial tips that may help you escape divorce with a little more money on-hand.
Be Able To Prove Separate Property
You needn’t doom your marriage before it begins with a prenuptial agreement. Instead why not discretely keep tabs on separate property, so not to create conflict within the marriage, but to always have “proof” in case you ever need it? This could be as simple as keeping a safe deposit box of receipts for big-ticket items that were purchased before the marriage. In a culture of electronic records, you could even be able to do this if the slip has long since been shredded. For instance, check past statements for when a purchase was made online or bribe a store manager with a $20 bill to go back into his store’s record of transactions and pull a copy of the old receipt.
Open Three Accounts
Establishing three accounts for your money — one for you, one for your spouse, and a joint account — is often a clearcut way of showing the court solidarity on how the assets should be divided. You should resist the temptation to siphon money into your own account without your spouse’s approval, though. Get too tricky with this, and it could come back to bite you.
Get A Credit Check
By having your credit score evaluated prior to the divorce proceedings, you can establish a trail of financial responsibility that will serve you well in the event that your spouse wants to lash out with a credit card workout.
Avoid Co-Signing
One of the most common ways that spouses “get back at each other” in a divorce is to stop paying their share on joint loans or by defaulting on loans in which the spouse co-signed. If you made the mistake of placing your name on a note as a co-signer for an irresponsible spouse, then you’re basically giving him or her permission to ruin your credit score.
To ensure a cheap divorce, you should keep the above tips in mind, but be careful. You don’t want to deal unfairly with your spouse even if you feel they’ve been unfair to you. That’s how conflict escalates, and ultimately, conflict costs cash. At a certain point, you simply have to decide which battles are worth fighting and when the best moment is to move on with your life.