One of the major characteristics of a successful divorce proceeding is creating a realistic budget that properly values the marital estate in situations where the divorcing couple owns less what they owe. Both parties will need to create a divorce budget with the help of their respective attorney.
Factors to Take into Consideration
There are several factors that your lawyer wants you to take into consideration in creating a divorce budget. More specifically, you should consider the following factors when budgeting for miscellaneous expenses:
Child Support Payments
Child support is paid by one parent to the parent who will be primarily supporting their child or children. Therefore, when creating a divorce budget, child support payments should be budgeted as an expense for one spouse and an income item for the other.
Childcare
In order to make the closest approximate of current and future childcare expenses, your family attorney will advise you to use an average of historical cost to take care of the children involved. You should also take into consideration any future changes in childcare costs that will have a substantial affect on the budget, such as school tuition or medical costs. These expenses should be adequately addressed in budgeting and child support.
Life Insurance
Current life insurance payments should also be accounted for in the divorce budget. Generally, the family members that the parties intended for the insurance to protect during the marriage still need protection during the divorce proceedings. Cancellation may not be possible until the divorce proceedings have been finalized. At that point, the responsible spouse needs to contact the appropriate insurance carrier to change the beneficiaries.
We Can Help You Prepare a Divorce Budget
Creating a divorce budget is not a simple task, but it is an important task. With the help of a lawyer, you can create a divorce budget that will make your divorce process proceed more quickly and smoothly.
For more information or to schedule a consultation with Zonder Family Law at (818) 309-7059.