Going through a divorce is difficult. It doesn’t become any easier, though, if you and your spouse have a lot of assets. You may have been fortunate enough to establish a successful business in your marriage or you inherited significant assets from your parents. Or your spouse had a high-paying job that allowed you to build a large number of investments and buy a nice home and vacation property.
Now that you and your spouse are facing divorce, you may not be sure how you are going to divide those assets. When a couple has significant assets, it’s easy for you to make mistakes when going through a divorce. Here are five mistakes you want to avoid if you are facing a high-asset divorce:
1. Not hiring an experienced attorney who has handled high-asset divorces similar to yours. You need an advocate to help you get spousal support if you need it or help determine what share of the business assets you deserve.
2. Not taking the time to document your assets or not hiring an accountant who can track all of you and your spouse’s assets. Your spouse may have stock options you are unaware of or an investment account overseas. You need to find all of these assets to divide them in your divorce.
3. Rushing to settle your divorce just because you want out of the marriage quickly. You need to consider the long-term ramifications of how you divide assets with your ex instead of coming to a quick property division agreement because you want out of your marriage.
4. Trying to take revenge on your ex when resolving your divorce. You need to try to separate your emotions while dividing assets with your ex. If you get into battles about your divorce settlement, your divorce likely will take longer to resolve and be more expensive than it needs to be.
5. Not adjusting your budget to reflect your post-divorce life. You likely will be living on less after your divorce and you need to adjust to that sooner rather than later. You need to make a budget that you can afford considering what you’ll receive in child support and other assets after your divorce.
By being proactive and understanding some of the challenges that will come with a high-asset divorce, you can move forward knowing that you are on the right path to get the assets you deserve in your high-asset divorce.
