Sadly, divorce rates continue to rise. If all is not rosy in your marriage, how you protect yourself could make the difference between comfort and fearful future.

Here a 3 things you must know if you are contemplating a major life change:

1. Know the whole financial picture. What are the monthly or annual household expenses? What’s yours, his or ours? In community property states your money could be considered “ours” if acquired after the marriage. Know the laws where you live.

2. Seek legal advice before you make a final decision. Women who are emotionally checked out are vulnerable. Legal advice does two things:
a. Provides knowledge of what you can expect of the divorce process.
b. Helps set up protection of your assets and of you should you decide to move forward and dissolve your relationship.

3. Look after yourself. Put yourself on a budget and try to live below your means. Make sure you have an emergency reserve (experts debate how much, but I have seen from 3 months to a year’s worth in print). Having this cushion allows you to have a security net in case you need it.

I hope none of us have to face this problem, but if you are in this boat, you have to take steps to protect yourself!

This entry was posted on Friday, December 11th, 2009 at 12:00 am and is filed under Women Only. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.