3 Financial Things To Evaluate If You Are Considering Divorce

If you have been married for a long time and are contemplating divorce, you will most likely be entitled to receive half of everything you own. This not only includes assets and cash that you have, but it also includes your debts. As you consider getting divorced, you may want to take a good, hard look at your financial situation right now, because it can have a huge effect on how your financial situation will be if you go through with a divorce. Here are several key things to evaluate as you try to decide if divorce is right for you.

The Assets You Have

In most marriages, both spouses usually know all the assets they own; however, there are situations when one spouse may be hiding assets from the other. If you even remotely suspect that your spouse might be hiding assets from you, it's important to try to find this out before you start your divorce negotiations. You will most likely be able to receive half of all your assets; however, it's hard to receive half of something you do not even know about.

If you try locating hidden assets and cannot find any, you could always hire an investigator for help. If your spouse is hiding money from you, an investigator will be able to find this out. There are many ways spouses can hide assets, but normally they use accounts like mutual funds or life insurance policies.

If you do not suspect that your spouse is hiding any assets from you, then you can simply look at the assets you have, and you can expect to receive half of them if you divorce.

The Debts You Have

In addition to hiding assets, there are also times when spouses hide debts from each other. This is a worse situation to be in, simply because you may be legally required to pay half of all the debts you have as a married couple. This is true even when one spouse does not know about the debts; however, your divorce lawyer might have techniques he or she could use to try to eliminate your responsibility for half of any debts you were unaware of.

One of the best ways to find out what debts you and your spouse have is by obtaining a credit report for both of you. A credit report will list all loans that were issued through banks, and it will show every credit card either of you have. It will also include the balances of the debts and information about when the debts were initially created.

Your Income And Financial State

After finding out the assets and debts you have as a married couple, you will have a good idea as to where you will stand financially if you get divorced. If you have a lot of assets and very few debts, you will likely be in a good financial position.

As you think about these things, you should also look closely at your income. Do you have a steady job that pays well? Will you be able to support yourself if you divorce and end up living alone? If you have children, will you be able to receive child support or will you be required to pay it? These questions are all good ones to evaluate, because they will help you determine where you will stand financially if you get divorced.

Getting divorced is not an easy thing for many people, but it is often the only way to resolve marital problems. If you have questions about divorce and would like to find the answers, schedule a visit with a divorce attorney at a law firm like Bineham & Gillen, PLLC.