A Man's Strategy With Property After Divorce

One of the most difficult times in a man’s life is having to deal with a divorce. While the emotional experience is one aspect, dealing with the legal ramifications can be the most important aspect. If you are not proactive in your approach, it is likely that when something happens to you (death or incapacity) your property will not go to who you intend it to go to. Here is a brief guide of how to deal with your property after divorce.

Where do you live?

Understand whether or not you live in a separate property or community property state. In a separate property state, all property you purchase with your own money is your property during marriage. If you live in a community property state, any property brought into the marriage is separate property unless you use marriage funds to maintain it. If you acquire property during marriage, it will be community property. If you inherited property, that property remains separate property of yours unless you placed it in yours and your wife’s name.

Who’s name is the property in?

Typically, when you become married, you place your property in yours and your wife’s names. When the divorce is finalized, once you receive a final order of what property you get, you should immediately quitclaim the title to reflect your name only. Quitclaiming the deed will likely require having your now ex-wife acknowledging with her signature that she no longer owns title to the land.

Any property that you receive after divorce needs to be re-titled to ensure that if your spouse was to go into debt, the property you have cannot be affected by it. Also, if you were to die and not hold the land in property title, you may not be able to pass it to who you intended.

Clearing your name

Another important step is to notify all creditors and companies with who you have accounts that you have gone through a divorce, and that the joint accounts should be closed. You also need to fill out forms to change your beneficiary on life insurance or pensions funds that you received in the divorce, if the court did not award any rights to these to your ex-wife.

You want to clear your name off accounts so your ex-wife does not use your credit record or ruin your credit. Changing the beneficiary will ensure that your ex doesn’t get anything more when you die.

Strategies to maximize your property in your next relationship

So now that you’ve learned that not all marriages end happily ever after, you need to protect your assets should you enter another marriage. One of the best steps to do this is signing a prenuptial agreement, which can stipulate any property you bought to the marriage remains yours in the event of a divorce. Avoid placing your separate property in your new wife’s name so as not to lose half of it in the event of divorce.

Getting Legal Help

You should speak with an experienced lawyer before changing any title to your post-divorce property to ensure that you are protected in the event of another divorce. An experienced lawyer can advise you on the consequences and provide services to protect your assets.