As watching any sitcom will tell you, women will steal all of a man’s money in a divorce… except this isn’t true. In a divorce, funds are distributed as evenly as possible based on the rule of law. Usually, the bread winner of the family will hand over a large portion of the wealth, but other assets like real estate are distributed as evenly as possible unless you are Alan Harper from Two and a Half Men. Now divorce can take an emotional toll; this is unavoidable. You can, however, reduce the financial toll as much as possible.

For the purpose of this article, I am going to assume that you are the main earner in the relationship.

Get a Prenuptial Agreement

The obvious thing to do would be to get a prenuptial agreement, however, you would have had to sign one before you entered into the marriage and a lot of people don’t as they believe their love is too strong and would survive any turmoil a marriage might throw at them. For those who don’t know what a prenuptial agreement is, it’s a contract that sets out how the assets will be divided in the event of a divorce. She might get the 1st edition collectable books and you will get the Porsche; he will get 20% of your bank account but will also have to buy you out of your half of the house and then still be able to live in it. When a prenuptial agreement has not been signed the law will take various factors into consideration, such as how much you individually earn, how much the house is worth, and who is taking primary custody of any children you share. There will probably be many meetings with lawyers to flesh out the finer points and decide who keeps the mint condition royal plate collection, etc.

Keep it Friendly

‘Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned’ or so they say, but men can be as equally vindictive and so if you’re the big earner then keep things as friendly as possible. This is a lot easier said than done as divorces are messy 9 times out of 10, however depending on what state and county you live in you should be able to make this process simpler, for example some of the more intuitive Los Angeles divorce lawyers will offer what is called Collaborative Law, whereby trained collaborative lawyers will sit with you to ensure an outcome that is best suited to your particular needs and make both parties as happy as possible. They will deploy financial advisors and therapists to ensure that the process is a smooth and stress-free as possible, and the most important point: it avoids the court system which will mean both spouses will be happier and less likely to try and bleed each other for every dollar they have.

Hopefully, you can avoid divorce altogether, but in the event you cannot, remember the relationship you once had and try not to end what was presumably a once happy marriage on a note of hate and deception.

Categories: General