From Homemaker To Single Mother: Getting The Most From Your Divorce

Divorce can be scary for anyone, but even more so for a woman that has spent her marriage as a homemaker. If you are in this situation, you may wonder how you are going to provide for yourself and your children. Don't worry; your divorce attorney can help you get the settlement you deserve.

10 is the Magic Number

If you, the nonworking spouse, have been married a minimum of 10 years, you will be able to draw upon your husband's social security when the time comes. You will get the social security benefits that you have earned, as well as a portion of your husband's.

This isn't really something that you want to bring up in the divorce proceedings. Rather, if you are not yet divorced, but are getting close to that 10-year mark, you may want to try to delay the proceedings so that your financial future is brighter.

Check out the Joint Accounts

Since divorce costs a lot of money, you will need to hire and pay for an attorney. You may feel strapped because you don't have income of your own. In this situation you should close the joint checking account you have with your husband and open a new account in your own name at a different bank.

Keep track of all of the records of what you are doing with the money so that you can show the judge that you have been responsible and are only taking care of yourself and your children.

You might think that it is kinder to only take a portion of the money and leave the account open. Do not do this! Your name is still on that account, so if your husband uses it and drives up debt, you are technically still responsible for it. Instead, you could have your new bank draft a cashier's check of half of the money written to your spouse. That way he can also open his own new account.

Require Life Insurance

Your attorney will be able to help you get alimony and child support payments. However, you also need to make sure that a life insurance policy is part of the divorce decree. Negotiate and agree on the amount of the life insurance policy on your husband. Decide whether he or you will pay the monthly premiums, and make sure that you are designated the beneficiary. That way if you will receive a lump sum payment at the time of his death instead of the future alimony and child support payments you would have received had he lived.

For more information about family law, visit Souders Law Group.

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