Imperative Financial Sageguards When a Nasty, Contested Divorce is Anticipated

By: Derrick Rubin

Once a divorce is initiated in New York, Automatic Orders issued by the Court prevent you from transferring assets except in the ordinary course of business. Therefore, it is critically important to be proactive about protecting your assets and limiting liability well before the divorce action commences.

If a divorce action is on the horizon, it behooves you to protect your assets now instead of having your spouse unexpectedly drain the bank account, and then you are spending time and money in Court chasing after your own monies. Furthermore, just a little bit of prevention may shield you from liability from your spouse’s future credit card purchases.

These following steps should be taken to preserve your assets and limit your liabilities:

1. If you have joint bank accounts, we encourage you to withdraw the funds to which you are entitled from the account, and deposit said funds at the same bank in a new bank account solely under your name. Thus you have preserved your assets for eventual equitable distribution; and
2. If your credit card company issued your spouse a duplicate card for making charges, contact the credit card company and immediately terminate the account so that your spouse cannot charge items to which you would be individually liable. Then have a new card issued solely in your name. This way you are limiting your liability in the event that your spouse goes out on a spending spree.

The divorce process can be a long, drawn out battle. You need to be prepared for the conflict. By taking the right steps at the beginning, you may greatly improve your financial results at the end.