Advice to Men Going Through Divorce

Divorce is devastating for both men and women. However, men who have accumulated high value assets during their marriage need to take certain steps to protect their portion of the marital assets.

This can be challenging during the divorce process.

You don’t want your spouse to clean out your accounts or be awarded a ‘windfall’, but you also don’t want to leave your family without the proper amount of money they require to live on.

This is especially true if you have children.

The key is to be proactive and practical.

DIVORCING MEN NEED TO SECURE THEIR FINANCIAL ASSETS

Gather financial records and store them at an attorney’s office or another secure location. This includes bank accounts, credit card statements, retirement account documents, insurance documents, investments and property records.

If you and your spouse have a joint bank account, talk to your attorney about the best way to handle that account. Once a divorce is filed, you cannot make changes to any of your financial accounts, so make sure you are receiving sound advice from an experienced attorney to avoid being held in contempt.

You should also contemplate any stocks, bonds and mutual funds that are jointly held with your spouse. Contact your broker and get a detailed explanation of all assets to provide to your attorney.

Also address your joint credit cards. You can be held liable for debt incurred by your spouse so you want to avoid incurring any new charges. Also, keep a close eye on your account to ensure that your spouse is not incurring additional debts.

If she is, make sure you notify your attorney immediately.

Whatever you do, Do Not remove your spouse and children from your health insurance. This would not only be a violation of the standing order, it would reflect very poorly upon you in Court.

You may also want to freeze additional contributions to any 401k, IRAs, pensions and retirement accounts. You don’t want to continue adding money to these accounts because they are considered marital assets and your wife will be entitled to share in them.

Talk to your attorney about these issues specifically.

MEN GOING THROUGH DIVORCE SHOULD PROTECT PROPERTY AND VALUABLES

Make a written and dated inventory of everything in the home you share with your wife. This includes furniture, appliances, electronics and clothing. This is evidence in case anything goes missing during the divorce process.

Also secure anything that has emotional meaning or financial value to you. Talk to your attorney about possibly moving small items like jewelry or family heirlooms out of the house.

You can place large items in storage and smaller items in a safe deposit box. Just unsure that nothing is sold, transferred or permanently removed, as that would be seen as tampering with marital assets and would surely have a negative effect on your case.

If you already have a safe deposit box accessible by your spouse, remove your items and store them in a different box. Document what is in the box or storage unit with a list, photo or video.

However, before you do anything, it’s best to get advice from an experienced divorce attorney!