Protecting Your Assets in a Divorce

Protecting your assets in a divorce can be done in a number of ways: premarital agreement, or wills and trusts. Taking steps to protect your property will mean you won't lost anything unnecessarily when a divorce occurs. Division of property, including stocks, bonds, retirement money, and physical property is done by the court if the couple did not put together a premarital agreement.

Premarital Agreement

The premarital agreement would have defined who received which pieces of property if the couple were to get divorced. If a premarital agreement is made then the court cannot get involved in the division of property. States claim that all pieces of property a couple acquires from the date they are married are subject to being divided during a divorce. The property can be a home, furniture, investments, stock options, life insurance, anticipated tax refunds, retirement plan savings, and other employee benefits. Most assets are divided equally if the couple lives in one of the nine community states of California, Idaho, Nevada, Washington, Wisconsin, Arizona, Louisiana, New Mexico and Texas. All other states will determine who receives property based on the length of the marriage, each spouse’s earning capacity, and individual contributions to the household.

Protect Your Property

Personal Property

To protect assets in a divorce a spouse should remove all property from the home that is rightfully theirs and store it in a safe place before the other spouse can file for divorce. This prevents the other spouse from accessing the assets of the spouse and taking them away for their own personal gain. Experts recommend that couples going through a divorce should never share a divorce lawyer with each other if they wish to protect their assets. Both sides should hire their own personal attorney for the case. All of the personal property from the marriage must be found and appraised for its value.

Community Property

Once this is complete, the community property should be appraised as well. Community property includes the home, the vehicles, and any watercraft the couple might own. The couple should make sure that there are no outstanding tickets on their vehicles. Also make sure that no liens have been placed on jointly owned real estate by the couple. All of this should be done under the advice and guidance of an experienced divorce lawyer. The lawyer will be able to map out an effective plan regarding the entire divorce and how to protect the assets of the spouses in the couple.

Personal and Joint Wills: Planning Ahead

Another important step to protect one’s assets in a divorce is to create a personal will not a joint will. A joint will contain the wishes of both the husband and the wife. A personal will contains the wishes of just the husband or the wife, not both people. A personal will details what property will go where upon the divorce of the couple or the death of the granter of the will. This will keep the other spouse from trying to acquire the property with the court’s help. A will’s requirements must be met or the executor of the will can face legal action for breaching a will, which is also considered a contract. Any debts accrued during the course of a marriage will be the responsibility of both spouses in the couple if they live in one of the nine community property states in the country. This includes joint debts and individual debts accrued during the marriage. A former spouse can negatively affect a person’s credit history by charging items and not paying for them on time if the one person was held liable for joint or individual debts accrued during the marriage. Creditors can freeze joint accounts after a divorce and turn them into individual accounts before either spouse can begin spending the money.

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