Though your recent divorce or legal separation may have been a difficult experience, many of the major hurdles are now behind you. However, it is important that you follow through on important details to ensure a smooth transition into your new life. At Violet P. Woodhouse, APC serving Irvine, Huntington Beach, and Anaheim, an experienced divorce attorney can help you conclude the business of your divorce and offer you tips for building your new life.
At the conclusion of your divorce, make sure you review all details. Some specific items to address include:
Additionally, you must keep accurate records of all child and spousal support payments you make or receive. Doing so will benefit you later on if you return to court to raise or lower support payments, collect unpaid support, or give evidence to state and federal tax authorities.
You and your ex-spouse can voluntarily change the terms of your agreement. However, if you cannot agree to a change, you will need to return to court. For example, if your ex-spouse does not pay his or her share of the community debts according to your agreement, you may be able to ask the court to order your ex-spouse to pay up and reimburse you for payments you have made on his or her behalf to protect your own credit.
In most cases, it is unusual for the court to approve requests by one ex-spouse to change the terms of property division after the divorce or to order a spouse to make spousal support payments if the right to support was waived by the other. On the other hand, child support and child custody arrangements are always subject to post-divorce modification. At our firm serving Huntington Beach, Irvine, and Anaheim, a divorce attorney can help you demonstrate to the court that a change in your or spouse's circumstances has occurred that justifies a modification of the support or custody arrangement.
After you have finalized your divorce, it is crucial that you stay on top of your finances in order to manage unforeseen catastrophes that may arise. If you have been setting and meeting financial goals throughout the process of divorce, you may, with continued vigilance, be able to put yourself into a good situation with only small adjustments to your basic plans. It is ideal to have an emergency fund comprised of six months' worth of cost-of-living expenses in a money market fund or regular savings account. Once you are comfortably established and firmly in control of your financial future, you may consider making investments that allow your money to work harder and yield a greater return.
Unfortunately, post-divorce financial realities can be dramatically different from pre-divorce expectations. In these situations, you may have to commit to drastic revisions of your initial financial plans, including cutting costs, selling off major assets, cashing in tax-deferred accounts such as IRAs, or drawing against your home's equity. Consulting with divorce attorney and CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ practitioner Violet P. Woodhouse is your first step toward avoiding such extreme solutions. She can help you create a financial strategy that works best for your situation and assist you in making necessary adjustments to ensure you stay on track with your goals.
You may decide to remarry after your divorce. If so, you may want to contact our firm serving Huntington Beach, Irvine, and Anaheim to have an experienced divorce attorney help you prepare and/or negotiate a pre-nuptial agreement. A pre-nuptial agreement is a contract that allows spouses to specify how property and debt will be divided in the event of death or divorce. It can protect your interests in separate assets that you bring into the marriage, and it can also identify property to be acquired in the future as either separate or community property. In addition, it can be used to ensure that the control, management, and ownership of a family business remains with you should anything go wrong with the marriage. Also, a pre-nuptial agreement can limit social security rights at divorce.
Changing your name as part of the divorce process can be more efficient – and less expensive – than waiting to do it later, when you will most likely have to pay court fees. After all, you may already be changing the owner's name and address on many documents that are part of your divorce settlement. It makes sense to make this additional change while you are at it.
If you have questions or you would like to receive professional guidance on how to proceed after your divorce, contact Violet P. Woodhouse, APC in Newport Beach serving Huntington Beach, Irvine, and Anaheim.
Contact our firm serving Huntington Beach, Irvine, and Anaheim to consult with a divorce attorney. We can help you understand the legal and financial realities of divorce and assist you in planning for financial independence.
Violet P. Woodhouse, APC
Newport Beach, CA
2 Corporate Plaza
Suite 250
Newport Beach, CA 92660
Phone (949) 640-8861
Fax (949) 640-8862