• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
We have moved! Find out more and read our Covid-19 update.
Edinburgh 0131 202 7516
Glasgow 0141 404 0436
  • Home
  • Blog
  • About Us
  • Testimonials
  • Contact Us
  • Fees

Gibson Kerr

Personal, Family Law & Property

Edinburgh 0131 202 7516
Glasgow 0141 404 0436

Make an enquiry

We will call you back

  • Divorce & Separation
    • Divorce in Scotland
    • Separation Agreements
    • International Divorce
    • Cohabitation Rights Scotland
    • Dissolution of Civil Partnerships in Scotland
    • How Can I Resolve My Divorce Dispute?
    • Fixed Fee Family Law Promotion
  • Prenups & Cohabitation
    • Cohabitation Agreements
    • Civil Partnership Agreements
    • Prenuptial Agreements
    • Postnuptial Agreements
  • Child Law
    • Child Residence & Contact Scotland
    • International Relocation of Children
    • Adoption
    • Child Abduction
    • Dispute Resolution Options
    • Hague Convention
    • Education Law
  • Wills & Estate Planning
    • Intestacy
    • Wills & Will Writing
    • Executries
    • Living Wills
    • Unmarried Couples’ Rights on Death
    • Claims on Inheritance by a “Common Law Spouse” (Cohabiting Partner)
    • Probate in Scotland
    • Power of Attorney
    • Guardianship Orders
    • Intervention Orders
    • Estate Planning
    • Cost of Care
    • Trusts
    • Foreign Estates with Assets in Scotland
    • What Happens When Someone Dies in Scotland?
    • Fixed Fee for Wills and Power of Attorney
  • Financial & Tax
    • Financial & Tax Planning
    • Inheritance Tax
    • Insurance Advice
    • Settlement Agreements
  • Residential Property
    • Properties for Sale
    • Buying Property
    • Selling Property
    • Videos: Buying and Selling Property
    • Joint Purchaser Agreements
    • Equity Release
    • Mortgage Advice
    • LBTT / Stamp Duty Scotland
    • Property Transfers
    • Home Reports
    • How to Present Your Property for Sale
    • Boundary Disputes Solicitors
Blog

Financial Planning after Divorce

14th June 2016 Posted Under: Divorce

Financial Planning Divorce

Ensure your finances are in order for life after divorce

According to the Scottish Government’s statistics, ordinary divorce has been decreasing each year since 2011, although simplified divorce has remained fairly consistent. The Scotsman reported in 2012, that Scottish divorce had fallen due to tough economic times and with divorce accounting for a large number of civil cases, it is no surprise that more and more people are undertaking divorce financial planning.

Don’t let emotions ruin your future finances

A break up of any kind is stressful and upsetting, but don’t let this cloud your judgement. Financial planning for divorce is vital; it may seem calculated but both parties have to consider the implications on their future quality of life and that of any dependants.

It may seem cold and heartless, but planning for a divorce step by step could make all the difference to where you will live, whether you will have savings and/or debts and what your retirement plan looks like. If you have children or other dependants, it will determine their future too. Getting it right and spending some time on post-divorce financial planning could make all the difference.

Evaluating assets and debts

As the Citizens’ Advice Scotland (http://www.cas.org.uk/publications/getting-divorced-scotland) states ‘it is generally the case that any goods you owned before you started living with your spouse will remain yours, as will any gifts given to you.’ However, you may need to come to an agreement over any household goods which were bought while you were living together as a married couple, splitting a washing machine isn’t feasible but you may need to decide who keeps it and if there will be any financial compensation to the person who isn’t keeping it.

Be sure to look at individual accounts as well as joint ones and don’t just look at savings, but look at debts too. Do you have joint debts? Car loans, credit cards, purchase agreements are just some of the things to take into consideration when looking to negotiate a divorce financial settlement.

Evaluating assets is an obvious task but ensure that you seek independent advice.

Paying for the day to day

In the immediate aftermath of a separation, you will need to continue with your life – work, raising the children, social activities – as normally as possible, and you may choose to delay some of the larger financial decisions for a while. In the interim, will you need to rent a home? Will you need a car? How far from the children’s school will you be?

Look at your living expenses before the divorce proceedings start; you need to know what you need and be sure to ask for it. Once the settlement is agreed, renegotiation is possible but will not be straightforward and why would you want to reopen the emotional distress by revisiting something that you can deal with once, if you get it right?

The gender divide

While it isn’t always the case, it is normally the woman who gives up her career to raise children for some amount of time. In so doing, she loses the opportunity to keep her pension topped up and can miss out on promotions and salary raises.

Research online, NetMums (http://www.netmums.com/parenting-support/divorce-and-separation/divorce-and-your-finances) and Citizens’ Advice Scotland have good advice that is easily accessible. Work out how difficult it may be to untangle your shared finances – if you own a business together or if you have taken significant time out of work to raise a family are two situations where things are more complicated – then you should probably seek independent advice.

Ultimately, your aim is to ensure that the quality of life for you and any dependants remains as similar as possible to what it was when you were married. You don’t want to leave yourself struggling to buy food each week or to pay the bills.

Both Huffington Post and The Guardian reported that women are more likely to end up financially worse off following a divorce. Make sure you don’t follow that trend.

But don’t use the situation to exact some kind of revenge. Try to be fair. At some point you cared deeply about each other and, especially where children are involved, you don’t want to have things become even nastier.

It isn’t easier for men, often they can lose their home and children to their former wife and find themselves feeling isolated. Some advice from a divorced man would be not to make over large payments between separation and the divorce settlement, as this could encourage or make a case for a larger settlement, and to try to maintain a balance so that work isn’t overly affected. Whatever, the outcome, you will need to have an income and rebuild the other aspects of your life.

Last words

After all you have gone through with a divorce, the financial wrangling and emotional and actual upheaval, the last thing you probably want to consider is your will. You must. Your circumstances have changed, make sure that you change your will to make arrangements for the people you love or are responsibly for benefit. You don’t want to have your former spouse in possession of the assets that you wanted to leave to your children or other family to secure their future in the event you aren’t around.

Finally, try to be as fair as possible and don’t let emotions take over. Aim to make both parties (and any dependants) financially secure and stable. In future you may be friends; you may share childcare; but ultimately you will be both have to rebuild parts of your lives and pushing your partner into poverty won’t make you feel better in the long run.

Get in touch with our family lawyers for any advice.

Related

Top 5 tips for achieving an amicable divorce

Top 5 Tips for Achieving an Amicable Divorce

2nd December 2021

Are liferents matrimonial property

Are liferents matrimonial property for the purposes of divorce?

18th August 2021

Brexit and Divorce Law

Brexit and divorce law

15th July 2021

Primary Sidebar

Blog Categories

  • Careers in Law
  • Child Law
  • Divorce
  • Education Law
  • Elderly Care
  • Executries
  • Family Law
  • Financial & Tax
  • Guardianship
  • News
  • Personal Law
  • Power of Attorney
  • Prenuptial and Cohabitation Agreements
  • Property
  • Property Transfers
  • Separation
  • Trusts
  • Uncategorised
  • Wills

Latest posts

Family Law experts push to become mediation market leader

28th April 2022

Purdie & Co trust Gibson Kerr with Wills and Powers of Attorney

18th March 2022

International Women’s Day #BreakTheBias

8th March 2022

Footer

Edinburgh 0131 202 7516
Glasgow 0141 404 0436

Make an enquiry

We will call you back

Locations

Edinburgh

Family Law, Personal Law
&
Property Law

6 Randolph Crescent
Edinburgh
EH3 7TH

t: 0131 202 7516
f: 0131 557 5215

e: edinburgh@gibsonkerr.co.uk

Open: 8:30-17:00, Monday - Friday

Glasgow

Personal Law & Family Law

100 West George Street
Glasgow
G2 1PJ

t: 0141 404 0436

e: glasgow@gibsonkerr.co.uk

Open: 8:30-17:00, Monday - Friday

  • Family Law
  • Personal Law
  • Property Law
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Disclaimer
  • Cookie Policy
  • Privacy Policy
  • Legal Notice

© 2022 Gibson Kerr · Site by Kate Amann

We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent. See our cookie policy.
Cookie SettingsReject AllAccept All
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checkbox-advertisement1 yearSet by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin, this cookie is used to record the user consent for the cookies in the "Advertisement" category .
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
CookieLawInfoConsent1 yearRecords the default button state of the corresponding category & the status of CCPA. It works only in coordination with the primary cookie.
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
CookieDurationDescription
_ga2 yearsThe _ga cookie, installed by Google Analytics, calculates visitor, session and campaign data and also keeps track of site usage for the site's analytics report. The cookie stores information anonymously and assigns a randomly generated number to recognize unique visitors.
_gat_gtag_UA_110715042_11 minuteSet by Google to distinguish users.
_gcl_au3 monthsProvided by Google Tag Manager to experiment advertisement efficiency of websites using their services.
_gid1 dayInstalled by Google Analytics, _gid cookie stores information on how visitors use a website, while also creating an analytics report of the website's performance. Some of the data that are collected include the number of visitors, their source, and the pages they visit anonymously.
CONSENT2 yearsYouTube sets this cookie via embedded youtube-videos and registers anonymous statistical data.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
CookieDurationDescription
_fbp3 monthsThis cookie is set by Facebook to display advertisements when either on Facebook or on a digital platform powered by Facebook advertising, after visiting the website.
fr3 monthsFacebook sets this cookie to show relevant advertisements to users by tracking user behaviour across the web, on sites that have Facebook pixel or Facebook social plugin.
IDE1 year 24 daysGoogle DoubleClick IDE cookies are used to store information about how the user uses the website to present them with relevant ads and according to the user profile.
test_cookie15 minutesThe test_cookie is set by doubleclick.net and is used to determine if the user's browser supports cookies.
VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE5 months 27 daysA cookie set by YouTube to measure bandwidth that determines whether the user gets the new or old player interface.
YSCsessionYSC cookie is set by Youtube and is used to track the views of embedded videos on Youtube pages.
yt-remote-connected-devicesneverYouTube sets this cookie to store the video preferences of the user using embedded YouTube video.
yt-remote-device-idneverYouTube sets this cookie to store the video preferences of the user using embedded YouTube video.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT
Powered by CookieYes Logo