Preparing for a divorce is mentally and physically exhausting. At different points throughout the contemplation of divorce, you will ask yourself questions like, how much will this cost? What will happen to our kids? How about our assets? What about our friends and family? What will my life be like post-divorce?
All of these questions are answered in other parts of my blog, but I will review this topic generally here.
First, it is good that you are thinking about these things. Divorce is a major life event, and planning and thinking about these issues is really important.
We recommend that you do the following to prepare yourself for divorce:
- Make a list of all the property that you and your partner own. It’s easiest to simply create a document on Google that you can edit and share with your partner on the cloud. Best of all is that it saves automatically. Make a list of all furniture and other items per room in your home. Then mark what you want to keep. This is all subject to negotiation and change later on, but it helps you sort out what is important to you.
- Print out copies of bank, stock, retirement, pension, savings accounts, and credit card statements. Organize your tax returns.
- If you have children, always consider your children and what is best for them before any other consideration. How will their time be divided? How will the cost of their care be covered? What about their health concerns and health care insurance?
- If you have pets, ask yourself who will keep them and take the best care of them?
- Consider seeing a therapist to help guide you through the emotional battleground that is divorce or separation. It is extremely cathartic speaking to a neutral party that can offer professional advice and guidance.
- For legal questions related to your divorce, speak to a Portland divorce specialist from Levine Law Center free and confidentially. Contact us online or call us at (503) 433-8340. We are here to help.