A financial planner may be a good investment for a person in California who is seeking a divorce. With such a professional, people may be able to get a better grasp of their current financial situation as well as a better understanding of various scenarios that might occur with different types of property division. For example, a person might be committed to trying to keep the house after a divorce. However, a financial planner might demonstrate that after considering the cost of upkeep and insurance, this would be a poor choice in the long run. Other investments may yield far more money over time.
A financial planner might also be able to detect deception on the part of another spouse. For example, some spouses might attempt to conceal assets. This could involve creating a company in another state. Deception may occur in other ways as well. One woman did not know that her estranged spouse had borrowed money against the equity in the house they shared. She got the family home in the divorce, but the house carried twice as much debt as she anticipated. She struggled to pay the mortgage and ruined her credit.
A person might be tempted to simply use the same financial planner that the couple always has. However, people should not have the same financial planner as their spouse.
Having a thorough understanding of the family finances is one of the important first steps toward securing a person’s post-divorce future. Even though California is a community property state, there is still room for negotiation in property division. A couple may come to a resolution through negotiation, but even if litigation is necessary, a person with a clear understanding of the financial situation and their long-term goals may be in a better position than someone without that knowledge.