Even if a divorce is mutually desired by both parties, it can still drain you physically, mentally, emotionally, and financially. However, there are ways in which to keep a divorce from being overly expensive. The following suggestions might not be applicable to all persons and their specific divorce, but one of these ought to help you unleash the financial squeeze that is grabbing hold of your nest egg.
DIY: Do it Yourself
There are parts of divorce proceedings that one can do themselves. The DIY part of the divorce usually occurs at the beginning of the process. In cases of infidelity, most spouses hire a private investigator. I give to you: The Private Investigator Handbook: The Do-It-Yourself Guide to Protect Yourself, Get Justice, or Get Even. This book is a great resource to perform some DIY PI-ng, and it will save you a fortune.
Another way in which you can do-it-yourself is when you file for divorce. Most courthouses will allow you to file your own divorce papers, saving you hundreds—if not thousands of dollars—on additional legal fees.
Get Guidance You Can Trust
Once you have obtained the evidence you need and are ready to advance to the next step, make sure that you get a family lawyer you can trust. It is not necessary to hire a specialized divorce lawyer. Often, family lawyers can work easily with a couple that is agreed-upon with the divorce—it keeps litigation hours low, saving the couple thousands of dollars.
Balance the Books for One
As soon—if not before—the separation occurs, close all joint banking accounts. Additionally, you should plan ahead with your monthly, financial budget. Do not keep spending $300 a week on groceries and restaurants when you are paying for fewer people on a restricted budget. You may quickly find that winning the house in the divorce might not be a good thing. Where your family could afford all the additional square footage and perks that came with your mansion, your individual income might land you in a foreclosure.
The Tax Bracket Racket
This one is quick and simple. Along with balancing your books and scaling back your budget, prepare for your tax bracket. Where you were claiming married, with two dependents; you are now single, with zero dependents. The tax breaks you were receiving have officially stopped. If you don’t adjust your W-4, you’ll be slapped with a huge tax bill at the end of the year.
Health, Life, and Car Insurance
Part of the aforementioned adjusting of your bill includes the adjusting of your different insurances. How often we forget the miscellaneous amounts being taken out of our paychecks. You could save a lot of money by removing your spouse or children from your health insurance—that is if the court has not required that you cover them.
Finding yourself recently divorced, with no children? You could probably go ahead and cancel that monthly premium you were spending every month on life insurance. The last thing you want is to die, leaving you ex a fortune in life insurance money.
By the time you remove your spouse and his or her car from your car insurance plan, you are likely to see your monthly car insurance payment decrease by fifty percent.
While the cost of hiring a divorce lawyer itself cannot be avoided, these changes to your life and budget ought to help soften the financial blow, keeping your divorce from being overly expensive.