Can I Afford To Get Divorced?

Everyone who comes to see me for an initial consultation about divorce is terrified. They don’t know what the future holds for them. When they got married, they thought it would be forever. During this marriage, they had been planning a future for themselves with a shared house, a shared retirement, and now all of that is changing. It’s scary because now they wonder: Will they have enough to get to retirement? Will they be able to stay in their house?

The truth is that every divorce is different. There is no cookie-cutter answer. The only way to know what the future might look like is to work with the specifics of your case.

Learn What Your Future Might Look Like

During divorce, the division of assets can be complicated, but the process follows a few common principles:

• You must determine which assets are marital and which are separate, or not subject to property division
• You want to look at your income and the amount, if any, of child and/or spousal support you will receive or pay
• Then you can work on a budget and see whether you can afford to do things like keep the home

The issue is that these ideas are not always clear. It is not always clear which things are marital or separate assets. It is not always clear how to value the house or crypto or unvested stock options, for example.

Also, property division is not always 50-50. There are numerous factors that shape the fair division of assets:

• Fault in the breakup of the marriage
• Disparity of earning capacity
• Each spouse’s education
• Each spouse’s health and needs
• Length of the marriage
• Sacrifices one spouse may have made to support the other’s career

This is not an exhaustive list, but it helps illustrate how property division can change from divorce to divorce, even when some divorces may look alike on a surface level.

To get a clear look at what your future might look like after divorce, it’s important to walk through all the different concepts one by one. The process is not entirely unlike doing your taxes. You can go work with a professional to guide you through the process, and with divorce that is a common choice. However, you can also work with software and websites that guide you through the process. There are tax programs that take you step-by-step through the filing process, and with divorce, there’s Ex-Hale.com, which can walk you through each step of property division and help you get an understanding of the process that is specific to you and your situation.

Your Answer Must Be Specific To Your Situation

Divorce can certainly be a scary process. It means big changes. Your life will necessarily be different, but “different” isn't necessarily "bad." It should be viewed as an opportunity to craft a new, better future for yourself.

The only real way to learn what that future might look like is to work with the specifics of your situation. Doing so can help relieve the anxiety nearly everyone experiences at first. Once you get past that initial anxiety, you can exhale and start planning your future.