Things that Women Have to Know with Finance after Divorce

Divorce is very devastating to a couple emotionally. The husband and the wife have to go through the process of separation as they try to re-emerge to the society as a new individual. But when you talk about finances, the burden is often found in the women. A woman’s financial status could drop as low as 70% on the first year of divorce. On the other hand, the man’s financial situation could improve as much as 30% or even more. This disparity is very alarming considering that women have to take care of the kids before the proceedings happen.

One of the biggest reasons why this is happening to women is that they become homemakers as soon as they are married or started to have kids. They stop earning and would concentrate on maintaining the budget the money their husbands take home. When divorce happens, they are left with virtually nothing because they are not earning something in the first place. This reality is still the same even for working women. As soon as they start to separate, the women has to take care of the kids and will pay for the monthly bills. They use to share the payments with their husbands but since the divorce, they have to take care of everything themselves.

Of course you’ll be receiving support and settlement after the divorce settlement. But in the meantime, you will be left with virtually nothing especially when the husband doesn’t seem to take care about the kids or you as his soon-to-be-official ex-wife. You on the other hand will be left to toil for the kids for the first year. You scramble to look for a job that should be enough to take care of your kids while paying the bills and even the home mortgage – if you’re the one who’s left to take care of the house. Even if you already have a job you still have to double your efforts since 50% of your source of finances is gone. That means another job so that you’ll be able to pay your bills. Imagine this happening on the first year of your divorce. You are doing everything to take care of the finances while going through a very emotional stage in your life. If you’re not strong, the pressure from your pocket and your heart is almost unbearable and could make you go crazy.

Today, couples opted to have a prenuptial agreement to ensure that the wife would have the compensation she needs to support herself and the kids. Unfortunately, this agreement might not hold and could even be disputed in a court. The bad thing about pre-nuptial agreement is that although it’s binding, there are certain loopholes that the man could use. They can easily dispute some information. Some will use the delay technique and will drag you to very long proceedings until you run out of cash and would eventually go for an out of court settlement – that means you’ll get something a lot less than what was originally agreed in the pre-nuptial agreement.

But that doesn’t mean you stick to your man no matter what. If it’s time to let loose, you have to let go and stand by it. One of the best ways to ensure they comply or at least help you with the finances is of course to talk to them. Fortunately there are men who don’t just walk from their responsibilities even though you are already separated. This is very common for men who already have kids. They will naturally show their support to their kids financially. Common sense suggests that they should practically help their kids until they are of legal age. In your end, they might help you through the hard times at least until you get a good job to be back on your feet.

Unfortunately, there are also men who don’t care about this. But you don’t just take this without any fight. If they don’t want to deal with you in an informal situation, you can still have the aid of the law through an accredited Divorce Financial Planner or DFP. In every state and county, there is licensed DFP who will help you go through these rough times.

DFP will cover EVERYTHING that entails the settlement. You’ll be surprised on how many things you’ll be missing out if you do it yourself. The taxes, the retirement benefits, mortgages and more should be settled as soon as possible. These professionals use up-to-date software and tools to determine what is due to you. They use the law and more importantly the practicality of the current situation on how much support is due to you. Divorce financial planners will also ensure that they terms and agreements between you and your former partner will be met.

Expect that the first year of your divorce will be very hard financially. But we could curb or address the situation as soon as possible if we open ourselves to dialogue and discussion or with the aid of a licensed divorce financial planner.