1. Follow the money. If you don’t know much about your spouse’s finances, look into it. Any financial documents will be of help. Examine and make copies of any of the financial documents you can get a hold of, so that you won't have to fight tooth and nail to get a copy of them later on.
2. Look into your spouse’s business. When a spouse is self employed it can be very challenging to determine the actual income that the business is making. If your spouse owns a business with much money at stake, think about hiring an accountant to go over the company financials (an attorney may know of a good one). The accountant will ask for documents that show the businesses assets and debts.
3. Protect your flanks. You’ll need personal money during the time it takes to settle the divorce. It may be wise to keep some money in a separate account of your own, instead of jointly as a couple and have a separate credit account.
4. Figure out of you brought any separate property into the marriage. You can normally take inheritances and any pre-marital personal savings away with you as long as it stayed in your separate name.
5. Go after the pension and retirement accounts. Individual Retirement Accounts, 401(k)s, and pensions all have to be divided.
6. Fight for health benefits, when you don’t have your own group plan. If your spouse carried the family coverage, you can usually stay in that plan, at your expense (or your ex’s expense, depending on the agreement), for up to three years.
7. Get financial planning advice from the beginning.
8. Don’t battle with your spouse. The more you fight, the more you spend on legal fees. If there are no children and few assets, you can usually complete the divorce without too much argument.
If there are any legal questions you may have, I encourage you to, please contact my San Jose Divorce Lawyers office. My San Jose Family Lawyer offices assists many people who are going through family law related issues. We have many Affordable San Jose Divorce Lawyer solutions for many different budgets. We help many individuals through this very chaotic period in their life. Proudly serving the following cities, Fremont, Milpitas, Los Gatos, Cupertino, Mountain View, and Santa Clara.