1. Know your assets: You’re not going to be able to effectively advocate for what you deserve during the property division process if you don’t know the extent of the marital estate. Therefore, you’ll want to take stock of what you and your spouse own. You’ll also want to be on the lookout for signs that your spouse may be hiding assets from you, such as receiving bills on new accounts and seeing large but unexplained expenditures from joint accounts.
2. Know your liabilities: Although a lot of divorce is focused on the division of marital assets, you and your spouse will also have to figure out how to divide marital debts. Here, you’ll want to make sure that you have an understanding of the debts in play so that you don’t end up being stuck with more debt than you deserve.
3. Identify your goals: You need to know what you want out of your divorce before you sit down at the negotiation table. By identifying the things that you’ll need post-divorce, you can build a framework for your negotiation strategy. Just be realistic here so that you’re not being so stiff that you leave no room for negotiation.
4. Identify your spouse’s goals: If you’re able to identify your spouse’s goals, you can develop a stronger negotiation strategy because you’ll be better suited to identify win-win situations. You might also be able to leverage certain assets to get what you want out of the divorce.
5. Find the right tone: Coming across too aggressively during your negotiations can stall talks by causing your spouse to shut down. You don’t want that, but you also don’t want to give in to all of your spouse’s demands. That’s why it’s important to strike the right tone. Being respectful but firm while using a business-like tone is effective for many who enter divorce negotiations.
6. Be willing to compromise: Although you might have certain positions that you want to firmly adhere to, you shouldn’t be so rigid in your position that you can’t find any common ground with your spouse. If you take a hard line on everything, your case is bound to head to trial where you likely won’t get everything you want anyway. So, try to find where you’re willing to compromise to strike a balance in your divorce negotiations.

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What about credit concerns?

Student loan debt

Federal tax debt

Other types of debt

• Business ownership: Your business may be your financial lifeline in the even that you divorce. If you end up losing half or even all of the business in your divorce, then you can be placed in a financial bind. To avoid that, you may want to consider entering into a prenuptial agreement that protects your business interests and what you’ve worked hard to build.
• You’ve received or are expecting to receive a large inheritance: Inheritances can quickly be commingled with marital assets, leaving them susceptible to the property division process. By utilizing a prenuptial agreement, though, you can ensure that you protect those assets and that your spouse understands that those assets will remain separate and outside the marital estate.
• You have children from another relationship: If you have children from another relationship, then you’ll want to do everything you can to protect their financial interests, too. If you lose half or more than half of your money in your divorce, then that leaves your children from another relationship with very little to inherit from you. To avoid that from happening, you may want to take your children into account when you’re thinking about creating a prenuptial agreement.
• You want certainty: Sure, you hope that your marriage will last forever, but there’s a chance that it will end sooner than expected. This can leave you with a lot of financial uncertainty. You can alleviate that unsettled feeling, though, by creating a prenuptial agreement that protects you and your future financial standing.
• Major debt is a concern: While a prenuptial agreement is oftentimes focused on protecting your money, it can also protect you from suddenly being responsible for your spouse’s debt. Since prenuptial agreements are supposed to be generated with a full understanding of each spouse’s financial positioning, negotiating one of these agreements can give you a full picture of your spouse’s financial picture, thereby giving you guidance as to how to protect your interests.

Take the legal action necessary to protect your interests

Preparing to rebuild your credit score

1. Continue to make on-time payments for existing debt: If you reaffirmed some debt or kept some after bankruptcy, you need to make sure that you’re making timely payments on them. This on-time payment history is a big part of your credit score.
2. Don’t take on debt too quickly: Remember, your credit score is a snapshot of your borrowing and repayment history so that lenders can essentially determine if you’re a good investment. If you take on too much debt after completing bankruptcy, you might give the perception that you still don’t have your borrowing practices under control.
3. Avoid changing jobs: Lenders are going to want to see that you have stable income before extending credit to you. This is hard to do when you’re frequently changing jobs. So, try to keep your employment as steady as possible.
4. Consider a secured credit card: This is a safe way to rebuild your payment history and your credit score. Here, you use collateral to back up the credit card so that if you can’t make payments on the debt, the credit card company can turn to that collateral.
5. Think about a co-signer: If you need to take out a loan, you might need to find a co-signer who is willing to go into the debt together with you. This is a big ask, so you’ll want to make sure that you have thoughtful conversations with a potential co-signer and are diligent in repaying the debt.
6. Create a budget: By creating a realistic budget, you’ll be better positioned to keep yourself out of needless debt. This can also help ensure that you have the funds needed to keep current on existing debt.
7. Build an emergency fund: A lot of people fall on hard times and end up turning to bankruptcy because they’re hit with an emergency and don’t have the money to cover it. This, in turn, puts them in a hole that’s difficult to climb out of. Therefore, it’s a good idea to start working on building an emergency fund so that you don’t fall into that same problem post-bankruptcy.

Do you have other bankruptcy-related concerns?

How can I recover damages after a dog attack?

• The owner was aware of their dog’s dangerous propensities (e.g., the dog had bitten someone in the past).
• You did not provoke the dog.
• You were not trespassing at the time of the incident.

• Your car: As you proceed through your bankruptcy case, you’ll be able to retain nearly $5,000 worth of value that you have built up in your car. If your vehicle is equipped to address a disability, such as by having a wheelchair lift, you’re allowed to keep nearly $12,000 worth of the vehicle’s value.
• Cash: You can keep about $6,000 in cash, even after you complete your bankruptcy. This amount may increase if you don’t utilize other exemptions.
• Homestead: Depending on where you live in New York, you can claim a significant homestead exemption. This figure may be as high as nearly $180,000.
• Books: You’re allowed to keep up to $600 worth of books that you may have accumulated over time.
• Jewelry: You won’t necessarily have to get rid of your heirloom jewelry either, as you’re allowed to keep over $1,000 worth of jewelry once the bankruptcy process is completed.
• Tools: If you have tools that you use in your profession, you’re allowed to keep about $3,500 worth of them for future use.
• Tuition savings: If you’ve saved money for your own educational expenses or those of your children, you can retain nearly $12,000 of those savings, which protects your ability to provide the educational opportunities that you hoped for.
• Animals: If you have animals that you use as a food source, you can keep some of them, as long as their value doesn’t surpass $1,100.

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How to handle debt in your divorce

• Identifying marital debts: Before you head into negotiations, you’ll want to make sure that you have a full understanding of your marital debts. These are typically debts that you took out jointly with your spouse or that were used to benefit both of you. These debts are most likely to be split evenly by the court.
• Determining individual debt: As you’re identifying marital debt, you shouldn’t let your spouse convince you that some of their individually held debt is marital in nature. Otherwise, you’ll be on the hook for paying back debt that never benefited you in the first place. So, consider whether the debt in question was taken out solely by your spouse and to their benefit. You’ll want to conduct the same analysis on debts that you took out to see if you can include them in the marital estate.
• What makes sense: There are going to be certain debts that just make sense for you to keep and others that make sense for you to pass on to your spouse. For example, if you and your spouse jointly took out an auto loan but you’re going to keep the vehicle, it makes logistical sense for you to retain that debt. Just make sure the debt is divided in a way that is fair.

Other considerations when dividing debt in divorce

Competently protect your financial interests during your divorce

How do the payments work?

What should I know about the bankruptcy discharge?

Professional help can be essential