Prepare For Life to Change Post-Divorce
Getting married is a life-changing decision. You are connecting your life almost completely with another person – your finances, your medical decisions, your property, and custody of your children, if you have any.
Few decisions affect your life as much, except for divorce. Just as getting married changed your life, life will change post-divorce.
This isn’t something you can emotionally prepare yourself for, but there are financial and legal aspects of post-divorce life that you can make provisions for. Untying the Knot offers online divorce services to complete your divorce as quickly and painlessly as possible. In this blog post, we also want to give our clients some forewarning from experience with previous clients to help with the transition into post-divorce life.
What Changes After Divorce?
After divorce, life changes fall under two categories: financial and legal. Some of these changes are things you should be aware of to protect yourself, such as changes in your tax bracket and less income.
Post-Divorce Financial Changes
- Income Reduction: Unless you were the breadwinner in a one-income household, you’re going to experience and vast reduction in your household income. Most households have two incomes, and that can carry families through tough times, especially when one or even both spouses are working. Post-divorce, you likely won’t have the financial support another partner offers. If you have children, child support will likely not be the same, as that money is used to support your children, not your household.
- Debt Allocation: If you’re going through the divorce process, you will or already have had to divide your debts. This means that post-divorce, you will likely have more or less debt than you did before. Depending on how much debt you had before your marriage, this can be a new financial relief or strain on you.
- Child and Spousal Support: Whether you are paying or receiving, child support is not the same as sharing your funds to support your family. Regular payments are something to schedule and prioritize for some households.
- Increased Living Expenses: On paper, it may seem as if you have fewer expenses, but expenses are less when two people share versus when two people are paying independently. For example, it’s cheaper for two people to pay for one large apartment than two people to pay for two smaller apartments separately.
Post-Divorce Legal Changes
- Property Ownership: While your divorce settlement will handle who owns what, it is a tedious process to make sure all official documents reflect these changes. Anything with a higher value that you retain likely has a title of ownership. For example, houses and cars have titles that need to be updated with legal documentation and court orders. Your divorce does not automatically do this.
- Estate Planning: Getting a divorce likely changes your plans for who will inherit your estate after you pass. Married couples automatically inherit the belongings of their spouse, while divorced couples do not. Getting divorced means that your ex-spouse will not inherit most of your estate when you pass.
- That being said, there are certain assets that spouses do not automatically inherit, like your own personal inheritances from your parents, for example. If you pass these down to your spouse in your will and don’t update your will post-divorce, they may receive those assets. Make sure to change your estate plans post-divorce.
Check Untying the Knot’s Online Divorce Services
Divorce is a difficult process, to say the least, and post-divorce life will be difficult because of it. The best way to minimize the heartache is to make sure the divorce process finishes as quickly and efficiently as possible. Our online platform can help you do that.
Check out our online divorce services to see how we can streamline the process for you. You can also seek professional advice by scheduling an appointment and talking to our attorneys online.