People get divorced everyday. Getting a financially smart divorce… not so much. Clients need to think about not only what they need today but, tomorrow. Inflation makes dollars worth less in the future. You should not accept an offer without considering inflation, the fact that as kids grow, their clothes get more expensive and the HVAC unit you’ll need to replace next year. Yes, divorce is a miserable experience and most people just want to get it over with and stop the pain… However, you’ll live with the effects of the settlement for the rest of your life. Take the … Continue reading
Category Archives: Common Financial Pitfalls
WHY SEPARATE CREDIT CARDS?
If you are divorcing in Nashville, TN and beyond, you need to understand if you are the primary card holder or just the authorized user for any credit cards you are currently using. You can obtain this information by calling the credit card company directly (their phone number is on the back of the credit card) or from your credit report. You can obtain a free credit report once a year by visiting www.annualcreditreport.com. Why is this information important? Because if you and your ex-spouse remain as authorizer users for the credit card, you will be liable for any charges … Continue reading
AVOID DIVORCE INSURANCE MISTAKES
Warning: Will Your Insurance Protection Survive Your Separation and Divorce? Divorce is traumatic enough without the financial complications of an uncovered insurance loss. Attorneys and judges are quick to consider life and health insurance in divorce cases. But frequently other forms of personal insurance do not get much attention. During a divorce judges frequently tell the parties in a divorce not to make any changes to their insurance policies. What the judges are trying to do is stop malicious tampering with insurance policies by the warring spouses. However, legal professionals sometimes overlook common but crucial property and casualty insurance issues. … Continue reading
Minimize Unnecessary Expenses During Divorce
Regardless of how much divorcing spouses may dislike each other, they often equally dislike spending money on a divorce battle and draining their hard earned savings and retirement funds on unnecessary legal fees. Consistently, I strive to avoid letting uncertainty whip my Nashville, TN clients into an emotional tizzy. The more frenzied their emotions, the longer the proceedings and the more costly the divorce. Frequently, it is the emotions in divorce that cloud people’s thinking and result in tens of thousands of dollars spent unnecessarily. As a divorce financial planner and mediator, I am aware of the emotional issues my … Continue reading
Why Does TN Child Support End at 18?
If you are divorcing in TN and have children, remember that TN divorce laws state that child support payments will end when a child turns 18, or graduates from high school. If you are receiving child support, just because your child is at college does not mean that expenses for that child are $0. Even if the other parent is paying for college expenses or the majority of college expenses, you will probably have expenses for the child’s clothing and groceries etc. when they are home. Children usually stay with the mother when they are home from college. That means … Continue reading