How To Prepare Financially For Your Separation or Divorce in Ontario!
I’ll bet you anything that the very idea of trying to put together the financial picture of your situation to prepare for your separation or divorce is giving you a headache!
I certainly get that.
Hi, my name is Thomas O’Malley. I’m an experienced family lawyer in Durham Region and the GTA.
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Fortunately, you can start putting together your financial information for your family lawyer in a few simple steps.
You need to do your homework so that you are not frantically looking for information when you try to settle your money and property issues in your separation or divorce.
By getting organized with your financial information from the start of the separation and divorce process, you can really reduce your frustration and anxiety in dealing with this difficult time in your life.
The first key is to make sure you establish your date of separation. That is a specific date that you must use in your separation or divorce.
This date is so important since you have to list the assets, investments and property that you owned on this date.
You must also list the debts that you had on the date of separation.
The date of separation refers to the date on which you and your former spouse stopped living together as a couple.
Common signs that spouses are no longer living together as a couple are that spouses have stopped sleeping in the same bedroom, stopped going to social events together, and stopped eating meals together.
You can be separated from your spouse while you are still living in the same residence. That is actually quite common, at least, for a certain period of time after spouses have separated.
You must list the specific assets and investments that you owned the date of separation. These assets include your home, cottage and any real estate investment properties. Other assets include your bank accounts, stocks and bonds, RRSPs, and your vehicles.
You must also list your debts on the date of separation. These debts usually include mortgages, lines of credit, car and truck loans, outstanding balances on credit cards, and money owing for personal income taxes.
You then must provide a value for each of your assets and investments as of the date of separation. You have to gather bank account statements, RRSP statements, statements for the value of your stocks and bonds that show the value of these assets on the date of separation.
Similarly, you must provide statement for the amounts of your debts on the date of separation, such as credit card statements and outstanding balances owing on your car loan, mortgages and lines of credit.
You need to put this information on a Financial Statement that your family lawyer will give you.
You must also gather your last three years’ Notices of Assessment and a recent paystub showing your year-to-date income.
Your former spouse must do the same work.
When you have completed this work, your family lawyer will review this material with you in detail.
You have now taken an important first step in solving your family law issues in your separation or divorce by gathering this critical financial information.
If you have any questions about your separation, divorce or family law case and you would like our help, feel free to contact on my Facebook law office page, that’s O’Malley Family Law, or call me at 905-434-8837 and I’ll point in you in the right direction.
Click here to join my free Facebook GTA and Durham Region separation and divorce support group: GTA and Durham Region Separation and Divorce Support Group
Please make sure to share this important information with your friends, family members and co-workers.
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