3 Ways To Get More Money Out Of Your Divorce
Going through a divorce can be expensive. You can pay a good deal in legal fees, and lose some of your estate in the divorce settlement. Here are a couple ways to get more money out of your divorce.
1. Know What You Brought To The Marriage
In most cases assets, property and income that you brought to the marriage will also be yours if you choose to divorce. For instance, if you have a personal inheritance, separate investments, or a personal savings account, you might be able to take all of that with you. The key here is if they stayed in your name. In most cases, trust accounts created by family members will only put your name on the trust, and generally people are unable to add their spouse. If this is the case for you, you could possibly keep all that money even in the case of a divorce.
2. Go After Retirement and Pensions
In most states, if you were married during the time that the retirement account or pensions were created and filed, you should have claim to it. In fact, a spouse can have up to 50% of their spouse's retirement and pension, depending how long they were married for. However, in most cases, this is not done automatically. Instead, you have to ask for it during the divorce settlement.
There is a process that you must go through to get the pension. Your divorce attorney should be familiar with this process. Usually you need to go through a separate proceeding from the standard divorce to get the pension. Even though it may seem like a hassle, you do have claim to your spouse's pension and retirement.
3. Follow The Money
Many married couples keep bank accounts and investments in their own name. This means that there may be money that you don't even know about. Before you settle the divorce it is important that you know how much money your spouse has. This will give you leverage during the negotiations.
If you are unsure about where you spouse is keeping the money, look at bank statements, credit card statements, and tax returns to get an idea of how much your spouse is really worth.
By doing these three things with the help of a divorce attorney, you can ensure that you get the most out of your divorce. Even though it may be hard to argue over money, you need to be sure that you are financially taken care of in the case of a divorce.
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