Five pre-divorce steps you should take

If your marriage has been rocky, you might be considering divorce. Marriage dissolution can be an effective way to escape a toxic situation while protecting your long-term interests, but the process isn’t always as easy as it seems. While there are almost certainly emotional implications associated with divorce, you’ll also have to find a way to navigate potentially high-conflict legal issues like those pertaining to property division and child custody.

Although all of that can leave you stressed out, you might be able to lighten the burden that’s been placed on your shoulders by engaging in thorough and effective preparation.

Key steps to take when preparing for your divorce

There’s a lot of work to be done when you’re heading into divorce. As a result, it can be easy to feel overwhelmed. However, as you prepare for your marriage dissolution, you might want to focus on taking these steps before informing your spouse of your intent to divorce:

1. Gather relevant records: Financial documentation is going to play a critical role in your divorce. However, once you inform your spouse of your desire to end your marriage, it might be harder for you to gain access to key accounts. You should focus on gathering all of this documentation on the front end, as it can clarify the issues and help you formulate your divorce strategy while minimizing the complications that you’ll face.
2. Open your own accounts and save money: It might be hard to tell how your spouse is going to react once you inform them of your intent to divorce. However, in many instances, a disgruntled spouse locks the other spouse out of bank accounts and freezes them out of other financial resources. This can leave you in a dire financial predicament as you try to navigate your divorce. Therefore, it’s a good idea to open your own bank accounts and start saving money so that you’re financially stable when the time comes to move forward with your divorce.
3. Create a post-divorce budget: Life after marriage can be scary, especially if you’re worried about your financial stability. But when you create a realistic post-divorce budget, you can gain a better sense of where you’ll stand and how you need to approach your divorce to secure the stability that you want.
4. Avoid social media: Social media posts linger, and your spouse will probably look at them during your divorce to see if there’s a way that they can use them against you. To prevent that from happening, you should probably avoid social media altogether. If you do post, though, be careful and refrain from talking about your divorce and your spouse.
5. Present yourself in a favorable light: Once your divorce is filed, your spouse and the court are going to put you under a microscope. Your spouse is going to do this to see if they can find anything that they can leverage against you in the various legal issues at hand. So, to protect your interests, you might want to avoid dating and partying and instead focus on creating your post-divorce plan and prioritizing your children.

Be diligent in developing your divorce strategy

A lot of people jump into divorce too quickly, leaving them inadequately prepared and ill positioned for a successful outcome. You don’t want to be in that position. That’s why if you’re considering divorce, now is the time to put in the work to ensure you have a sound strategy moving forward. Take your time and act when you’re confident that you’re ready to do so. Hopefully then you’ll be positioned to secure the post-divorce life that you want.