Divorce Planning: Free Divorce Kit

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Divorce Planning (Free Divorce Kit)

When you have made up your mind and because the decision is never easy but it doesn’t mean you have to lose out!

Disclaimer

This divorce kit has been written to provide you with general information about what you may have to face when going through a divorce. Although we intend to provide you with both useful and accurate information, it is important that you understand that this information is not legal advice. Each and every state, as well as each county and municipal jurisdiction within each state, has laws that may vary greatly. Furthermore, these laws are regularly revised and updated, and such revisions and updates may render some information obsolete or incorrect. This information should not in any way be construed as a substitute for legal advice from an attorney. You are urged to consult with an attorney before applying, or taking any actions based upon, the information contained below.

Divorce Guide – Planning

Hardships will occur through every marriage. No marriage is going to be guaranteed. When you have made the decision that you are ready to protect your future, using a divorce kit such as this is going to put you on the right track. While no divorce kit is going to be a fool proof plan for securing all of your financial matters, this divorce kit provides you with the ultimate information needed for making decisions before you are rushed.

When going through a divorce, you are going to be stressed, hurried and often pre occupied, as there are many ‘things’ that you are going to have to deal with. Because you are making the decision to plan your divorce, you will find that you will have the answers for problems that arise, and you will feel less stressed because you are educated on your own matters.

Using this divorce kit to start your planning, months, weeks or days before you actually tell your spouse that you want a divorce is going to give you the path through it all while being successful at ‘taking’ and ‘keeping’ the money.

Family and personal documents need while planning include:

Where is the money – cash
Your name or both? Can you access it? What is it worth?
Where is the money – assets
Your name or both? Can you access it? What is it worth?
What are the expenses – household
Your name or both? Are you going to get stuck or stick your spouse?
What are the expenses – business
Your name or both? Are you going to get stuck or stick your spouse?
What are other long term expenses – children
Your name or both? How will the children’s bills be paid?

Income

What is your income?
What is your spouses’ income?
What other income does the house have?
What needs to be sold off?
Can you sell it off without trouble? Making plans to sell off some of the largest accounts.
Cars / trucks / vehicles
Which one do you want and can you sell off others?
What does your spouse value the most?
Furniture, Photos, Memberships
Selecting an attorney question and information checklist

Important information about your family:

So maybe you don’t take care of the bills all the time, of you don’t do all the paperwork for the house accounts – you will need to know all social security numbers and birth dates for not only yourself, your soon to be ex, but your children, step children and others living with you while going through divorce and running from meeting to meeting and dealing with your job and other stuff.

Name	SS Number	Birth date

Here is a quick listing of what you will need attached to this divorce plan when you are planning on leaving the house or when you are filing divorce. You can send away for these items through the mail so that you don’t arouse suspicion if you like:

Copies or originals of all social security cards
Copies or originals of birth certificates
Copies or originals of marriage certificates
Copies of drivers license – never know when this will be handy!
Recent photos of all children and adults living in the house
Copies of fingerprints if you have had them completed recently for the children.
Tax returns for at least the last two years.
Receipts for any assets sold jointly, or by your spouse, in the last two years.

Cash Accounts

To track where you are going to get money when you are breaking the news of wanting a divorce – you need to know where all your cash is and if you can get it. List all types of checking, savings, and cash accounts here.

If there are accounts that are in your Spouse’s name only, it is totally up to you to decide to get that cash as well protecting your financial future. After cleaning out all the cash in these accounts, be sure not to leave any statements in the house for your soon to be ex to use or find, this includes checks and debit cards as well.

Name of Account	You Own	Joint	Spouse	Amount in Account

You are going to find that your spouse may have accounts that you were not aware of. Searching through personal papers will give you pin numbers, access codes, even the ability to put your name on an account without your spouse ever knowing!

Where there is a will there is a way that you can get the cash that you want and need for a nest egg after the divorce. Don’t leave your spouse anything, if given the chance they wouldn’t leave you anything either. In any event, you can be fair later after if you want.

When you think you have listed all the cash, all the very liquid accounts that you and your spouse have plan a date for a few days before you are going to tell them about the divorce and take all the money that you can from all these accounts. It is important to wait on these accounts as when they are empty you are going to ‘tip off’ your spouse about your plans.

Remember that an equitable portion (at least half if you don’t use the manual) of what you take is likely to be adjudged your ex’s property. Document as you go, keep the documentation safe – out of the house, and keep your lawyer informed.

Other Assets

Bonds, retirements, and other accounts, which are not as liquid as cash accounts is what you will need to study a little further. List all savings bonds, savings accounts, CDs, college accounts, and similar type cash assets that you and your spouse own. Be sure to destroy all receipts, statements and leads to these accounts, or get them out of the house so your spouse can’t find information about these accounts.

Any accounts that you can cash in and ‘hide’ is going to be money that you are putting aside for a rainy day after the divorce. If given the chance your spouse, or soon to be ex, is going to do the same thing. So it is important to start quietly – cashing in what you can without raising too much suspicion while doing this.

Accounts for the children may be accounts that you put stipulations on during the divorce so that this money remains untouched for their future. Accounts for retirement, savings, and other assets are fair game if you can get your hands on them.

Name of Account	You Own	Joint	Spouse	Amount in Account

Bonds, CDs and other savings vehicles can be cashed in without raising too much suspicion when you are doing this and keeping all of the receipts hidden well – out of the house. For items that you can’t cash in, be sure to write down all the account numbers and how much is in these accounts so these accounts can be settled during the divorce.

Copies of statements are best, and if you take them all, than all that’s one more task in a crazy time that your ex has to do or pay through the nose to have done for them.

Real Estate and Vehicles

Here we are going to make you think a bit. If you don’t know the answer, this worksheet is your guide to reminding you that you need to find an answer to how much something is worth.

Among other things, you should be listing real estate, property, rental businesses, income from other sources, vehicles, cars, trucks, motorcycles, four wheelers and anything that can be sold of larger value that you and your spouse have bought or owned during the course of your marriage. Even items that were yours or theirs before you were married are often still ‘fair game’ when going through a divorce.

Use this checklist to sell off as many items as you can while going through divorce so you can have the cash. Be sure to keep the proceeds from these sales in an account where your ‘soon to be’ ex spouse has no information about these accounts. Don’t leave any of your old or new account information in the house.

Name of Account	You Own	Joint	Spouse	Amount in Account

Keep in mind; certain things have great emotional value to one or both of you. The prime example is the family dog, not much money but of great impact. Think and plan. Divorce is a process. Remember these tricks work both ways, and above all remember your out to win not just to cause pain.

If a certain piece of real estate or a car has a huge loan against it, is it really going to be in your best option to sell it off now or wait during the divorce. You don’t want to be stuck paying off some mortgage or car loan after the divorce when you are ‘starting over’ so some of the largest items that have liens can be left alone unless they have sentimental value to you. Otherwise, sell off as much as possible, keeping the proceeds out of the house, out of your spouses name and build a ‘nest egg’ for after the divorce that you can rely on. All the while, present a ‘reasonable’ and amiable front to family, friends etc.

Children’s Assets

Divorce is often a very heart wrenching time where you are going to make some assumptions about your ex that you have to be careful about. When discussing the children’s savings, college funds and other funds for the children – there has to be a written agreement that you and your spouse are going to protect these accounts – that no withdrawls can be made without the presence of the other or one of you is going to clean out the children’s account just for spite.

Be sure to list all of the children’s accounts, their savings bonds, their college accounts and what ever funds the two of you created and make an appointment at the bank. Either have all money transferred into your account for protection, or have all monies transferred into accounts where only the children can withdraw, no one else.

Fill in your children’s names. Fill in the type of account, where the account is, and what the amount on the account is. For accounts that are merely savings, with no restrictions but were set up for a child, you can transfer out all money and put it in an account with just your name and the child’s name so that your soon to be ex can’t utilize any of this money at any time for any purpose. Going to each bank where accounts are will be needed. Take all information from your home and destroy it or store it elsewhere in regards to the child’s money and accounts leaving your spouse this much further in the dark about finances.

Child Custody

Name of Account	Name……….	Name………..	Name……….	Amount in Account

If you feel that child custody is going to be an issue when going through divorce, keep track of the child’s activities and who is doing working and spending most of the time with the children. Be sure that you know all of the child’s teachers, doctors, playmates and you are involved in their life before the divorce so the transition is much smoother.

Having phone numbers for all the baby sitters, schools, friends and such written down somewhere besides at home is going to prepare you for the event if you have to leave with your child or children.

Name	Phone	Address	Relation	Availability

Keeping information such as playmate, teacher, babysitter and such on hand if you have to leave will keep your schedule going like clockwork instead of having to sort and find all your phone numbers in one place. Keeping your child on schedule, is going to buffer some of the problems that they can go through, while you are getting a divorce.

Child Support

While planning a divorce with children involved, you are going to want to be sure to know how to plan for your child support. One thing you are going to need to do is file for child support on the day that you leave. If you wait six months then you are giving up six months worth of support. Support claims will not start until the day that you file for support. Say you file in May and your case is heard in June, by July when the first payment comes along your ex is going to be 2 months behind already.

When preparing your divorce ‘day’ complete the following listing:

Domestic relations phone number
Hours of operation
Have copies all birth certificates, social security cards and employment informant for you and the soon to be ex.

Taking all of this with you when you file is going to make your job so much easier. All you have to do then is wait for the court case to come up and support to be awarded. Of course, how much support you get is dependent on how you and your ex have approached things; this is an area wide open to tricks.

Child Visitation

If you are getting divorced because of abuse to you, or your children, be sure to document as much as you can. Writing down every time that something happens. Be sure to have a witness to events and write down their name and number. All of this is going to help you prove that your ex is unfit for custody and should only have limited visitation with the children.

When at all possible, invite people over to your house to hang out and witness when something is amiss. Be in public so the soon to be ex will be blowing off in the middle of lots of people and you have lots of witnesses.

Writing down times, dates, and things that happen are going to give you an edge with this entire matter. Don’t keep this record in the house. Keep this on a tape or computer away from your home because it will only get worse if she or he finds out about your recordings and writings before the divorce conversation takes place. Of course, if you are in danger, or your children are, safety has to come first.

Expenses

During a divorce all types of expenses will need to be discussed and when you are prepared with what the expenses were for the six months before the divorce you won’t end up paying too much in child support, alimony, credit cards, mortgages, loans and any other expenses that your ex might state was in the household.

First you need to start with all the household expenses. What does it take to run your house, from the groceries to the electricity, garbage, water, sewer, and the mortgage?

Listing any bills that your name is on and the account number is going to give you all the information need in case you have to turn off utilities in your name if you move out. You don’t want bills being racked up in your name if you are not in the home.

Bill Name	Monthly Amt	Paid when	Whose Name	Account Number

The flip side is that any credit cards where your spouse is the primary cardholder – his or her name appears first – are quite a target for you.

Shared Expenses

Loans and credit cards that are in your name and your soon to be ex’s name should be listed here. When you are in the process of starting your divorce, you need to put a stop to all charges that could possibly occur under your name. Have the credit cards canceled or closed so your ex can’t rack up the bills and leave you stuck. She or he can easily ring up thousands of dollars; declare bankruptcy and you are still going to be liable. So taking care of these potential problems before hand are necessary. This includes any accounts that are lines of credit, credit cards, store credits and similar accounts.

Your Own Credit

Credit card/ credit line	Balance now	Payment due date	Phone number	Account Number

It is important that any credit cards, credit lines and loan accounts where the soon to be ex is an authorized user that you take them off of your accounts. You will also need to make sure that you don’t have any statements, credit cards, or miscellaneous papers lying around the house or anywhere in the house so that they can’t use your information and rack up more bills on your credit.

Use this chart to be sure that you remember all of your own credit lines and credit cards for protecting your own future.

Cash, Expenses – Income!

You will need to know about your soon to be ex’s income. How much they make an hour, week, month and etc so that you can file for support, alimony, for the point of dividing of assets.

Credit card / credit line	Balance now	Payment due date	Phone number	Account Number

All of this information is going to be needed when you go to court so you can prove what he or she has and where it is coming from. Often during a divorce your ex is going to lie about what they make and how much they are making. Ensuring that you have the proof.

Make sure you can track your ex’s income. If they have their own business, it will be important for your to be able to come up with copies of the profit and loss or income statements for the last few years as well, keeping it all in a central location – out of the house for safest keeping. There are accountants who specialize in evaluating businesses for divorce.

Employer	Address	Phone number	Wages	Employed for how long

What other materials should you be taking with you, putting away while you are planning for your divorce?

Copies of your income taxes
Anything with your social security number on it
Special health insurance, life insurance or disability papers, policies or cards
Deeds to properties, rental agreements and lease agreements are important
Information about pensions, retirements, and other types of futuristic accounts

Household Items

Planning for your divorce means that are going to try and divide all of your worldly goods. Making a list of the most important items that you want to take with you and trying to get them out of the house before you announce your divorce can be tricky but sometimes you need to do this.

Take for example, you just bought a video camera, a computer, a fancy dish set in the china cabinet that was your grandmothers – items that you want most and mean the most to you is what should be on your list. You can always buy new furniture, lamps, phones, bed and bookcases. Only list the items that you want the most and you are going to take out of the house one by one before the divorce so there is no way you are going to leave these items behind.

Item	From where	Why	Notes	Where stored

While you are making your listing of the personal items that you want to have out of the house before you are going to announce your divorce you should also be thinking about baby books, photo albums, anything like videos, cassettes, and such that you can never – ever replace.

Items	Where you can store items	Notes

Finally, make a listing of what your ex values the most. These are bargaining chips and more.

Items	Where you can store items	Notes

Selecting an Attorney

This is a critical issue and we’d be doing you a disservice by providing a quick and easy table to make it seem like you should just go at it. Please read more information on our site regarding how to find and select a good divorce attorney.

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