Preparing for Divorce over the Holidays
Many couples whose marriage is in trouble postpone their divorce plans until after the holidays. These couples don't want to jeopardize their children's holiday celebrations by breaking the bad news of an impending divorce. In other cases, persons simply want to enjoy the holidays, without worrying about alimony, and child custody matters.
That's the reason why the month of January sees more numbers of divorce filings than any other time of the year. However that doesn't mean that you don't have to take any prep action prior to filing divorce papers in January.
You can use the holiday season to make an inventory of all assets. Include all of the assets that you own separately, and those that you purchased after the marriage. Also include those assets that you inherited, or received as gifts, after you got married. California is a community property state, and your assets will be up for division during the divorce.
Speak to a divorce lawyer in Los Angeles about how you can begin laying down the groundwork for the division of assets. Make an inventory of all your debts and your wife’s debts. The court will split not only your assets, but also your liabilities. That means that you may be responsible for half of your wife’s debt, even if you had nothing to do with it.
Get a complete picture of your wife's debts and liabilities. See full disclosure, and obtain all financial records, joint credit card statements, joint bank statements and other documentation. Get your own bank accounts, and credit card accounts.
You want to be financially prepared before you take the final step forward in January. Speak to a divorce lawyer in Los Angeles about how you can accomplish this.