What information do you need to know when considering a divorce?
Q. There are many things that people need to understand when considering divorce. What do you think are the most important things to know when considering a divorce? What would be the first topic of discussion?
A. You know, that’s a good question, and I think that information, personal information, is key. Five big things for me as a lawyer when I’m meeting with a new client is knowing that information and it’s helpful when a client has all that information. So first of all I would say know where the money is. And what I mean by that is, as a married couple, know where your bank accounts are. What banking institutions do you use, your account numbers would be helpful, know what kind of balances you have there. What kind of investments, stocks, mutual funds, retirement accounts, things of that nature. Know whose names are on them. They’re both names on them, who’s the beneficiary. It is important to know where your liquid assets are.
The second thing I would say is, what I think goes along with that, is knowing where your debt is. He knows what he should in things. Know what you owe on your house, who owns the mortgage, know what you owe on your cars, know what you owe on your credit cards; what kind of credit cards do you have, and what are the balances, and account numbers, again, very helpful. And also an important question is who is responsible for that account. Are they both in that debt? Is it in your name, is it just in your spouse’s name? Things like that will be helpful in distributing that in the divorce proceedings.
Another important thing to know (the third topic) is to know where your assets are: cars, boats, vacation properties, safe deposit boxes, any problem that one of the spouses might take care of. The other may not know as much information about it. It’s good to figure out where those things are so you’re not left in the dark when it comes to signing on the dotted line.
Number four, I would say know where those important documents are. Are they in a safe deposit box, are they in a file cabinet, are they in your spouse’s home office? If you can get copies of them, that’s very helpful. It’s not crucial, but you want to know where those important documents are. Life insurance policies, stock certificates, the like, if applicable.
Finally, I would say know what you personally need to live. This is crucial if you are the woman in the situation, perhaps a stay-at-home mom. This is all going to be very new and maybe scary for you. Maybe you handle finances, maybe you don’t. Finances will probably change, well, they undoubtedly will change, once divorce comes, but you are going to need to know how much you need per month, as a total of your rent, your utilities, your food, your gas, your insurance, phone. Things like this that you may not have thought of in the past will become very important in the way you move forward.