Taking Care Of Business During The Transition Period Before Divorce

8 April 2018 by Jonathan Phillips

A looming divorce is no reason to put off making good financial decisions, and in fact, the way your financial situation looks on the other side of divorce can be affected greatly by the actions you take during your separation period leading up to the divorce. Read on to discover how you can make this transition pay dividends that will continue to improve your financial situation for a very long time.

Get some support: You can have a family court judge approve an order for two kinds of financial support during your separation period. Child support should be paid to the parent who is taking primary care of the minor child, even if the divorce is not final. Divorce proceedings can go on for a very long time, and the family courts are empowered to order financial support be paid to the parent who needs it.

If you can show a need for spousal support (also called alimony or maintenance), this form of financial support can also be ordered during the separation period. The spouse that can show that they will suffer from a significant financial impact from the loss of their spouse's financial contribution to the family budget may be awarded temporary spousal support. You may have a better chance if your child is very young, you have few job prospects, you are older, or you are suffering from a medical condition.

It should be noted that child support, child custody, and visitation and spousal support are all issues that can be addressed during the separation period, and that also may be "folded in" to the final divorce decree if they are successful and uncontested.

Don't increase your debt load: No matter whether you live in a community property or equitable distribution state, debt is likely to be a big issue when you divorce. You can head off even more problems by acting to put a stop to the use of any joint debt during the separation, however.

A legal separation agreement will form a virtual and legal line in the sand against your spouse using a joint account to run up the debt even higher. If you and your spouse can pay off any joint debt, it will make any debt decisions just that much easier, of course, but using a separation agreement can encompass support orders, custody issues, debt, and property issues and might allow your final decree to be less acrimonious.

To learn more about dealing successfully with your separation period, speak to a divorce attorney.

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