Divorce can be a simple process if you are still very young, have no children, have few assets and your finances are relatively basic. If you were married right out of college, or even during school, and are just starting your careers with modest salaries and your financial portfolio consists of mostly student loan debt, you may obtain a divorce relatively quickly here in St. Louis and go on with your separate lives.
However, if you are in the middle of your career, with a decent income and you have accumulated a home and some investments, in addition to having a couple of children, your property division could be considerably more complex. You need a divorce attorney, potentially an accountant and perhaps other specialized financial professionals.
With a complex arrangement of investments, income and the cost of raising children, the better picture you have of your complete financial state before you file your divorce petition, the better able you will be to develop a holistic property settlement.
If there is a family business, there may be even greater complexity. If your wife or husband runs a business or has a professional practice, you made need a very sophisticated economic analysis of the revenue and cash flow of the business. This is necessary to ensure that the financial books presented as representing the condition of the business make sense.
It can be easy for a spouse to engineer the books to make it understate the revenue the business, its profits and as a consequence, the overall value of the asset. This can lead to you receiving a property settlement that is neither fair nor equitable.
Your attorney can help assess your situation and help you determine if you need other professionals to help bring about a property settlement that will be a strong foundation for your future.
Source: kansacity.com, “Your Financial Planner: Posturing in divorce,” CHANEL FORTIER, JULY 4, 2016 10:21 AM
