Ending a relationship, especially a marriage, is hard. There are heated emotions, hurt feelings, money anxieties, and complicated logistics (not to mention kid issues if there are children still at home). If you’ve decided to end your marriage but haven’t figured out how to start the process, you aren’t alone.
Divorce is by nature a messy process, and it’s common to make mistakes. Some are small (forgetting that one dinky investing account), and some are big (not addressing a major issue like taxes thoroughly in your decree). If you are wrapping up a divorce, you may find that mistakes were made.
The holidays are about family. And that fact can be painful for someone whose family has radically changed due to a divorce. Maybe this is the first holiday season you’ll spend “alone” in a very long time. While learning to be unmatched during this festive season may not be easy, it’s doable. Here are some practical tips on getting through and finding some joy.
Most married couples I know choose to burden only one member of the couple with tax return preparation — delegation and work splitting are keys to a happy home life, after all. So, if you are divorcing after a long marriage, you may be doing your own taxes for the first time (or the first in a long time). The U.S. tax code is a mystery to the typical individual. But federal taxes (not to mention state and local taxes) are a big expense for most of us — and it’s hard to be tax-aware when you don’t even know the basic mechanics of the tax system. Here, I’ve put together a primer to get you started on your journey to understanding taxes a little better.
If you are lucky, you’ll only have to get divorced once in your life. And since this is likely your first time, you haven’t yet had a chance to learn from your mistakes. In the spirit of making divorce less terrible for everyone, here are the top 10 mistakes to avoid in your divorce.
“I’m so bad with money!” I hear this phrase fall from the lips of my female clients with startling frequency. I hear it even more often when I’m working with a client who is divorcing. Is it really possible that all these women are just naturally “bad with money?
