Outside of child custody, money is typically one of a divorcing couple’s biggest areas of contention in New Jersey. This is true whether two people have a wealth of assets to split or do not have many high-value assets. Unfortunately, making ill-informed financial decisions during a divorce proceeding may have negative consequences long term. Here is glimpse at two mistakes that can be particularly problematic from a money standpoint.
First, failing to shut down joint accounts, including credit card accounts, can pose problems. The reason for this is that even if a man, for example, agrees to take over the payments for a specific credit card balance, his future ex-wife may still be liable for this debt if her name is on the credit card account. Why? Because the contract they have with the credit card company predates their marital breakup, so the company does not have to acknowledge their divorce agreement. This is why it would be beneficial for the divorcing spouses in this situation to transfer the outstanding credit card debt to an account with only the man’s name on it and then close the old account.
Another mistake frequently made in divorce is thinking that divorce should be a war. In reality, divorce does not have to be fraught with conflict. Spouses can take full advantage of alternative dispute resolution processes, like mediation, as well as informal negotiation to resolve their divorce issues outside of court.
When tackling financial issues outside of court, however, it is paramount that both parties are open minded. Otherwise, they will have a hard time finding common ground. In this situation, they will end up having to rely on a judge to address their financial matters, such as property division, for them. Still, in either scenario, a divorce attorney can help a divorcing spouse to seek the most personally favorable outcome possible in New Jersey.