Deciding to separate from a spouse can be hugely upsetting and problematic, with the biggest concern of all probably the financial implications of divorce.
Legal fees
Most couples will find the divorce process expensive in terms of the legal fees incurred, which could run into thousands of pounds and will be more expensive if there are joint assets to be taken into account or children to be considered. The process, if it runs all the way to a final court hearing, can cost more than £30,000.
With legal fees so high, there are a few things that you can do to reduce your outgoings at this time. One of these is mediation, whereby a solicitor can draw up the consent order once it has been agreed by the couple how the assets will be split.
On top of the legal costs of sorting the divorce are the ongoing day-to-day costs of having to run two households and the long-term financial decisions you will need to make as individuals, such as pension preparations, changes to your wills and investments, and tax planning.
Financial planning
To be sure that the best preparations are made, it makes good sense to use the service of a financial planning advisor. They will look at the matrimonial assets and help you to make the best choices in terms of rearranging your financial affairs to accommodate the divorce requirements.
Both parties will want to reassess their financial and legal situations to make sure their new circumstances are considered and also that the best interests of the family as a whole are taken into account.
Financial advisors can help you to make informed decisions. Although they cannot guarantee the future movement in the investment markets, their use of specialist software for financial advisors, such as Intelliflo software for financial advisors, means that they can deal efficiently with looking at different investment decisions by reducing costs such as administration costs or in preparing bulk valuations. They can also gather lots of data from different sources and look for trends to maximise accuracy and efficiency.
A financial advisor will help to calculate the risks and benefits of long-term investment and mortgage arrangements based on the budgets available and can make future predictions by looking at both the best-case and worst-case scenarios.