Smart Money Moves When You Are Facing Divorce

1. Assess your Financial Picture: Begin by gathering all income, asset, and debt documents, including passwords to online accounts. In this first step, if your lawyer has not provided you with a guide (or you do not have a lawyer yet), you can use a standard net worth worksheet to keep you organized, like this one from Vanguard. Here is a list of documents to get you started:

   
   

   1. Tax Returns

   2. Bank Accounts

   3. Retirement Accounts

   4. Investment Accounts

   5. Credit Card Statements

   6. Mortgage Statements

   7. Car Loan Statements

   8. Personal Property - in this step, stick to high value items worth more than 1,000.

   9. Insurance Policies

   10. Tuition, Daycare, and Camp Invoices

       
       

2. Develop a Budget: This is actually a two step process - the first step is to understand your current budget - how much does it cost to run your household as an intact family. Once you have that budget, work on calculating what your budget will be in separate households. This step helps to give you an idea of your overall financial picture. For this step, gather all of the statements and bills that you pay monthly: credit cards, utilities, mortgage, car payment, tuition, etc.

   
   

3. Understand your own income picture: Gather all sources of income so you understand how much you bring into the household individually. Sometimes, divorce and separation means you need to get a job - or a different job so make sure your resume is up to date.

   
   

4. Do not get overwhelmed. Understanding your financial picture can be a big job. Your attorney can help get you started on what you need.