Making Your Money Go Further For most, divorce is a once-in-a-lifetime, unplanned experience. It’s not accounted for in any budget and no savings have been allocated for it.

When divorce happens, it should be tackled like any unexpected financial event. You must watch expenses carefully and find creative ways to save money. In divorce, there are many obvious ways to save money, such as talking to your lawyer’s secretary instead of your lawyer, making your own photocopies and completing your own forms. There are also less obvious ways to make your money go further in divorce. Here are a few of them:

1. Leave your emotional baggage at the door.
   Let go of your need for revenge and realize that emotional warfare in divorce is expensive.
   
   
2. Treat every decision in divorce as a financial decision
   (except for those relating to your children). During divorce you will face hundreds of questions. When your lawyer or husband asks these questions, consider each in terms of dollars and cents. Determine the cash value of the settlement offer, calculate the cost of a trial and consider any other relevant expenses. Then, make your decision.
   
   
3. Don’t wait – do it now!
   Divorce, unlike a fine wine, doesn’t get better with age. Do everything and anything required in divorce without unnecessary delay.
   
   
4. Know the numbers.
   Broad, categorical approaches to dividing assets in divorce frequently result in one spouse (often the wife) receiving assets worth substantially less than the other spouse. To avoid this tragedy, calculate all assets and debts before executing a settlement agreement.
   
   
5. Don’t throw good money after bad.
   In a frenzy to prove your husband is lying or hiding assets, you may be tempted to search for things that don’t exist. If you are, ask yourself and your lawyer if you are being reasonable. If you aren’t, save your money and nix the search. If you are, use our Income and Asset Search Tools to uncover the truth and find hidden assets.
   
   
6. Call your therapist not your lawyer.
   Generally, therapists’ fees are less than lawyers’ fees. Thus, if you’re in an emotional conundrum about your divorce, call your therapist instead of your lawyer.
   
   
7. Open and read mail from your lawyer.
   Even if opening your lawyer’s mail is as unpleasant as a bikini wax, open and read it as soon as you receive it. Read each letter from beginning to end, note any important dates or deadlines, follow any instructions provided and respond to any requests your lawyer makes.
   

This article is not legal advice. You should consult an attorney if you have legal questions that relate to your specific divorce.

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