subject: Divorce And Your Financial Plans [print this page] Successful retirement planning doesn't only mean that you'll have enough to live during retirement, but also that you'll be able to protect yourself from anything life-changing that could considerably affect the way you live. Aside from unexpected death, possibly one of the greatest tragedies a retiree could encounter would be separation from his or her partner in the form of a divorce.
When you take the possibility of divorce into account when looking at your retirement plans, you'll find that you may need to take steps early on to protect your wealth from unfair distribution. Aside from the distribution of assets, which may depend on the length of your marriage, your state of residence, and other factors, you'll need to take care of your formerly conjugal liabilities.
Your home may be one liability that you haven't considered as such. In some cases, divorce results in one partner keeping the home. This requires that the costs of the spouse who leaves should be calculated, including mortgage payments, property taxes, and insurance premiums. In other instances, sale of the home is in order, which results in the distribution of the proceeds to the former partners.
When you're in the midst of your divorce, you'll find that getting along even if you aren't together will save you much time and money. Of course, this depends on how amicable your settlement and the divorce is. If you see eye to eye on many things, you'll be able to get more when you sell your home, for example, as you no longer need to hire a series of appraisers - just one that you both trust. The lack of haste can also help you both make more money by waiting for favorable market conditions before you sell your home, compared to shouldering losses in a rough real estate market.
If you're incorporating the possibility of divorce into planning your retirement or updating your financial plans, you may be inhibited from looking at your partnership in such a clinical and practical manner, especially when times are good. However, the so-called 50/50 chance means that there are equal chances of wedding bliss or a painful divorce - you should take the proper steps to decrease the stress that comes with this transition, and protect yourself from suffering huge financial losses.
