Four Financial Mistakes to Avoid During Divorce

Are you and your spouse going through the divorce process?  Are you struggling to consider all of the benefits and pitfalls of each and every decision?  From making choices about the family home, to spousal support arrangements, there are countless short-term and long-term decisions that need to be made.  If you have children with your spouse, you'll have even more to consider.  Because of all of these difficult and important decisions, you'll want to trust a divorce attorney in Orlando to work through everything with you.  This will help you avoid making any large mistakes and having regrets about the settlement you chose.  There are a few dangerous and common financial mistakes that you'll want to avoid during your divorce process.

Refusing to Cooperate

Sometimes divorce proceedings are fueled by rage, anger, or resentment towards the other spouse.  This can make you more interested in seeking revenge than in actually doing what is right for you.  Spouses may work to undermine one another or even refuse to cooperate with the process entirely.  This can make for a lengthy, expensive, and dramatic divorce process, which will actually end up spending more money fighting than working towards resolution and moving forward.

Keeping an Expensive House

Many people may not realize the cost of upkeep when it comes to keeping their home.  In order to avoid having to move or change their living situation, they may fight to keep their home.  However, after a while, they may find themselves struggling to pay the mortgage, upkeep costs, repair expenses, and many more costs of keeping a home up and running.  Be realistic about your post-divorce financial status before you decide to take on too much house.

Failing to Look Long-Term

Some couples only look at the aspects of the divorce that affect them in the short-term.  However, we always advise our clients to take a look at the whole picture and how it will affect your life in the long-term.  Take into consideration retirement planning, tax requirements, child custody, and spousal support.  Look into the future and envision how life will be in many years, not just in the immediate future.  

Looking at Only the Immediate Gains

It may seem easy to consider selling your property assets during a divorce settlement to cut off all ties, but you want to remember to look at the real costs of your decisions.  Cashing out your retirement money prematurely can have many financial penalties that don't seem important now, but could affect your financial status in the future.  Don't only look at immediate gains when you are planning your divorce settlement.

These are a few of the main financial mistakes that many people make when they settle their divorce.  By trusting the professional guidance and counsel of our divorce attorney in Orlando, you'll prevent making a costly mistake that you may not even realize until later.  Contact us to schedule a consultation with our expert attorneys today.