The financial aspects of a divorce can play out differently for every divorcing couple. At a time of high emotion you may want to protect yourself, financially by making some prudent choices. Your bank ~ you want to make sure that they know about your situation. Any money held in joint accounts likely only needs one signature to withdraw so you want to ensure you take your half out and place it in an account in your name only. Ensure the bank also puts a hold on any credit cards that you jointly share. Those country songs about seeking revenge and making the other spouse pay through reckless credit card spending came from somewhere. You want to make sure that it doesn't happen to you. Remember, you are still jointly responsible for that debt. That means that even if your spouse is not paying the monthly payments on those credit cards...you should. Any repayment can, hopefully, be settled through the separation agreement as part of the negotiation. It's better to do it that way than end up alone with bad credit. Another good exercise would be to close any credit cards you don't need.
Remember those investment accounts, especially the registered ones? Registered Retirement Savings Plans and Registered Pension Plans (as well as Tax-Free Savings Accounts) often ask for the account holder to determine a beneficiary. If you chose your spouse you may want to contact the financial institution managing these accounts to change your beneficiary.
Now that you have looked after the registered savings what about the regular savings investment s that you have? Those assets and their distribution are covered in your Will so you will want to re-write that too.
Your not finished yet....while you are re-writing your Will you may want to consider re-writing your Powers of Attorney (PA). Your PA covers both medical and financial matters should you become incapacitated. The last thing you want is your spouse to be calling the shots with the doctor as to your care, if you can't speak for yourself!!!
