Divorce Planning

Separation and divorce are critical financial times. However, when a marriage is breaking up, financial and emotional matters become entangled.

During this time of uncertainty, you are required to make many decisions that can effect the rest of your life, decisions about maintenance and child support, where to live, whether to keep the marital home, perhaps to give up claim to a pension in order to keep the home. In the settlement you may have the option of getting stocks or a share of your spouse's 401(k) plan assets.

Your lawyer will guide you through the legal aspects. What is missing in most divorces is financial expertise geared directly to special needs of divorce. At Financial Priorities, we help clients understand the complex issues and their ramifications. Our goal is to empower our clients to make sound financial decisions.

Some of the issues we examine are:

• Which assets are feasible for you to keep?
• Should you keep the marital home?
• How are pension plans valued?
• What is the most tax efficient way to treat retirements plans?
• What cash resources are available for immediate income?
• What are your realistic lifestyle costs before and after divorce?
• Should you trade maintenance for child support?
• What are your health insurance options?
• How will separation and divorce effect your social security benefits?
• What impact does separation/divorce, alimony, child support, retirement plan distributions, house sale, trade off of dependency exemptions, etc. have on income taxes?