Principal Partner
Beaufort Planning
Going through divorce is a very emotional time, so much so, that it is often very difficult to focus upon and make clear decisions about what you need to do about your finances.
This situation can easily become exacerbated if you’ve had none or little involvement in managing the family finances and it can be very tempting to just bury your head in the sand.
Putting things to one side and leaving them until later, is likely to cost you more in the long run, so as hard as it maybe, the earlier you get to grips with financial matters and a have clear picture of where you stand the better you will be and also probably feel.
You’ll need to gather together financial information for disclosure purposes as part of the divorce proceedings and it maybe, depending upon the process you choose, you are asked by your family lawyer to complete a Form E
In general terms you will need to get an understanding of your income and outgoings and all assets and liabilities.
The gathering of some of this data will be straightforward enough and some may be a little more difficult to obtain.
At this point you may need some professional help and assistance on what to gather and where to go to get it.
It’s a bit like putting together a jigsaw.
Putting the corners and sides in place are relatively easy. Building and completing the full picture can be both time consuming and difficult, depending on the number of pieces you have in your financial picture and its complexity.
But like a jigsaw, once fully complete and you have all the pieces in place, you will be able to see clearly what your current financial position looks like.
The earlier in the process you and the professionals you work with have a clear understanding of your finances, the sooner you can all work together to consider all of your financial options and start to shape and put together your thoughts on an appropriate settlement.
Taking this first important step will help you achieve clarity and give you a greater understanding of your finances. It will hopefully enable you to be more confident and money matters.
In a following article, I will look in more detail at shaping financial settlements.
www.beaufortplanning-westmidlands.co.uk
You may also like Paul’s article on INCOME AND DIVORCE