As the people in Fort Worth who have gone through a divorce know, it is extremely important that everyone ending a marriage have sufficient financial acumen to take care of his or her money after a divorce. For many couples, only one person handles the money, the other has left it completely to his or her spouse to balance the check book, ensure there is sufficient money in the accounts and know how much money can and cannot be spent in a month. For the spouse that didn’t handle the financial affairs, getting a divorce may seem frightening, especially knowing that he or she will be responsible for his or her own money.
Working with a divorce attorney is an excellent place to start. An attorney can help explain some financial concepts and likely knows of financial advisors that would be happy to help a newly divorced man or woman achieve a degree of financial stability.
Another important thing to do is to learn important financial vocabulary. Knowing that assets are everything a person owns, any investments, property, money, businesses or other valuables following a divorce is important. Equally important is knowing that one’s liabilities are those things that a person owes. In order to find out a person’s net worth is as simple as subtracting liabilities from assets. For someone who has had to manage his or her own money for the first time ever, this could be a frightening, but essential task to do.
Finally, Texans going through a divorce should sit down and chart out what they need and what they want. If it is not essential, it cannot be purchased if the person doesn’t have enough money saved to cover an emergency situation, should it arrive.
Dealing with money is stressful, even for the most experienced of financiers, but it is important that everyone knows the basics of money following a divorce.
Stay tuned for updates from our Ft. Worth family law blog …
This post is for informational purposes only and is not to be construed as legal advice.
Source: The Huffington Post, “Why You Need To ‘Speak Money’ After Divorce,” Honoree Corder, Sept. 4, 2012
Visit our website to learn more about our work with post-divorce financial stability.
