Don’t lose sight of personal finances in a divorce

When you are going through a divorce in Louisiana, you may be so focused on various custody or property division issues that you take your eye off the ball when it comes to personal finance matters. However, there are common mistakes that people often make that can cause them problems in their post-divorce life.

Some Common Mistakes

One of the biggest unforced errors that people make is to focus exclusively on keeping the family home after the divorce. However, the house payments can take up much of you income and whatever support you are receiving. The same holds true when you are paying support. It is possible to retain the home and end up “house poor.” Another problem that people cause themselves is to fail to factor in possible tax debts that they may owe based on the sale of assets. For example, if the divorcing couple must sell shares of stock, there could be a capital gains tax.

Make a New Budget

Another error is to fail to make a budget reflecting your new situation. You are likely dealing with changing finances that affect your bottom line at the end of the month. Construct a realistic budget and make sure to stick to it. If you are still using old financial assumptions, you may find out that you simply do not have enough money.

A divorce attorney may be able to help you understand some of the things that you may be facing when your marriage ends that you may not have anticipated. You may be focused on starting your life again or issues such as custody, but financial issues can trip you up if you are unaware of them.