What You Can Do To Assist With Your Divorce

Once you have decided to obtain a divorce, the next step for most people is to hire an attorney. The attorney will help you negotiate a fair resolution of all the issues that must be addressed in a divorce. Fortunately, there are things you can do to make the divorce easier for you, and ultimately less expensive.

1. Be familiar with your assets. One of the issues in a divorce will be the division of your marital property. One way to learn about your assets is to review any financial statements you have given to banks or other lenders in order to obtain loans. The financial statements will usually list all of your bank accounts, financial investments, real estate, and other assets. You should obtain copies of your latest bank account statements, investment account statements, and retirement account statements. You should also gather any documents you have related to your real estate. One source of information regarding real estate holdings can be the county register of deeds. Simply ask for copies of any deeds for real estate held in the name of you or your spouse.

2. Be familiar with your debts. It will be useful to make a copy of the most recent statement for all of your debts. This includes home mortgages, lines of credit, car loans, and credit card statements. Also let your attorney know of any debts to friends or relatives, and provide documentation regarding those debts.

3. Be familiar with your income. Two documents provide the most information regarding income: pay stubs and tax returns. Obtaining the most recent pay stub will be useful to your attorney. Generally, it is good to make copies of the last two to four paystubs so that any variations in monthly payments can be noted. You should also make copies of one or more years of tax returns. All of the schedules to the tax returns should also be copied.

4. Get help for the emotional upheaval of divorce. Parties going through a divorce are experiencing some of the most difficult emotional times in their lives. Regardless of whether the divorce is something both parties wanted for a long time, or is a sudden decision, obtaining the assistance of a counselor will help you through the difficult times. This will also minimize the number of expensive “support” calls you make to your attorney. Your attorney will definitely want to know all factual information regarding your divorce, but is not qualified to provide the kind of counseling that will help you get through this difficult process.

The more you can do to prepare for your divorce, the less you will have to rely upon your attorney and your attorney’s staff. Your attorney will be glad to help you with the divorce, but the above steps will help you better understand your situation, and help you to make better decisions regarding your divorce.

This ar ticle was written and prepared by Maureen Holman, a family law attor ney with the Serkland L aw Firm in Fargo, Nor th Dakota. For more infor mation call 232.8957, email at mholman@ serklandlaw.com or visit www serklandlaw.com.