What to do before a divorce
A divorce is rarely a happy event and ends up affecting and changing the lives of all members of the family. It can be particularly hard on the children in the family, as they are not the ones making the decision. In order to make your divorce as friction free as possible, while making things easier for your children as well as yourself, there are a few things you can think about before filing for divorce.
Lawyer
The first thing you should do as you start up the process of getting divorced is to contact and hire a family lawyer. They are invaluable when it comes to solving disputes that might arise between you and your spouse during the process of dividing your assets. It also gives you a neutral communicator that isn't affected by any differences you and your spouse might have and can solve issues in an objective way. Even if you and your spouse have agreed on a friendly divorce, a lawyer can still be of help to make sure the procedure is legally correct so that no arguments can arise in the future. If you and your spouse agree on the terms of the divorce, you might even be able to use the same family lawyer to represent you both.
Finances
Talk to your spouse about money as soon as you can manage after deciding that you want to separate from your partner. This is an aspect of a divorce that can cause problems and arguments between two parties. Your family lawyers will help you divide your assets, but it does help if you have agreed beforehand on how you wish to divide your money. The easiest way is to split all money you own together right down the middle, but it might help to do some basic calculations to figure out if one of you owes the other money for anything.
Custody
Another thing that you should discuss beforehand is how you want to divide the custody of your children. Compare work schedules and finances to get an overlook of who gets to have the children when. It's best to figure this issue out as soon as possible, as you're risking having to go to court to decide on custody. Having this settled in court might be more emotionally straining, while also costing you and your spouse money. It's also beneficial to settle custody as soon as possible as you will know straight away what to tell your children, as they most likely will have questions about how their lives are going to change because of the divorce.
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