The Unforeseen Costs of a Divorce and How to Prepare

Everyone knows that a divorce can be expensive. You have to pay a divorce lawyer near Phoenix, you may have to move into a new home, and you will drop down to one income (which may not be enough to pay for the quality of life to which you have become accustomed).

Despite knowing that you are in for some big expenses, you may still be blindsided by some of the expenses that your divorce brings on. Here are a few of the unforeseen costs of a divorce and a little information about how you can prepare for them:

Health Insurance

When you are married, you usually share health insurance. One of you pays to have the other on his or her work-sponsored plan, and one of you pays to have the kids on the same plan. After you get divorced, you may have to look for a new insurance plan, which can cost a lot of money.

Even if you have your own work-sponsored insurance plan, you may still have to pay more by adding the kids to your plan or by paying your former spouse for half the cost of having the kids on his or her plan.

Education and Training

Many people choose to have one parent stay home to take care of the kids, rather than paying for expensive daycare or other services. If you were the parent who stayed home, you may find yourself scrambling to find work when your marriage dissolves. Having a big gap on your resume can make it harder for you to get hired.

To make yourself marketable, you may need to get additional education or training. Not only will you have to pay for the cost of these programs, but you will also need to support yourself while you are finishing them. These costs can add up fast.

Taxes

There are a lot of benefits to being married, and a lower tax rate is usually one of them. Once you get divorced, you will be filing your taxes as a single person, and chances are good that you are going to pay more in taxes.

When you divide your assets in a divorce, you may also end up selling off stocks or other investments, real estate, or other property. You will be taxed on all of these sales, which can end up being significant.

Real Estate

One of the biggest expenses that people pay when they get a divorce is for a new home. You may have to rent an apartment or buy a new home, which will come with a lot of expenses. Then you’ll have to pay for movers, buy new furniture, and buy a lot of other new things for your new place. Even if you stay in the same home, you will likely have to replace a lot of items that your spouse took.

What a lot of people don’t think about is the expense of selling the marital home in a divorce. Sure, you may get a profit, but you’ll also have to pay broker fees, home inspectors, sales tax, and more. If you stay in the home, you are likely going to have to buy out your spouse’s interest in the home, which could mean signing a check for thousands of dollars.

Counseling

Getting divorced in Phoenix is not just financially devastating; it is emotionally devastating. You may have been wanting to get a divorce for a long time, and you may no longer be in love with your spouse. But the process of divorce is still difficult, and you may still grieve. You’ll also spend a long time adjusting to your new life, and you may need to process feelings of anger, bitterness, sadness, or even guilt.

Getting therapy or some other kind of counseling is recommended following your divorce. You should also consider getting therapy for your children if you have them. If you have kids, you may even want to get therapy with your former spouse so that you can work on creating a good co-parenting relationship that ensures the well-being of your children.

Divorce can be much more expensive than you even expected. You can minimize the impact of these costs by preparing for them, and you can find ways to avoid them if possible. For example, you might start getting training to re-enter the workforce before you begin your divorce proceedings, or you might move in with a friend for a time after you move out of your home. Working with a good divorce lawyer in Phoenix can also help you to get the best share of assets that you can so that you can move forward with as little financial difficulty as possible.

My AZ Lawyers can help. Our Phoenix divorce lawyers can help you understand your rights and put together the best strategy for getting the maximum divorce settlement. Your divorce attorney will gather all the evidence available and put together the strongest case possible to win what you deserve. Our goal is to help you get the best start to your new life that we can. Call us in Phoenix today to talk with a divorce lawyer about your options.

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