Because divorce can involve a lot of complications and delays, you want to do your best to prevent unneeded obstructions as you go through your divorce. If you have to spend time locating important documents during the divorce proceedings, it may cost you money and time, plus you could lose out in court battles over assets and alimony.
Fortunately, you do have control over how you prepare for your divorce. Forbes describes a few tips that may allow you to organize the documents you will need before your divorce begins.
Identifying your financial documents
Because you will require a lot of financial paperwork, you might want to start out by composing a list of your assets and accounts. This list can help inform you what kinds of documents you will need. For instance, if you own one or more checking or savings accounts, you will need financial statements and balance sheets for those accounts. You will also need your credit card statements, your deeds for your real estate properties, and your investment account statements.
Looking for non-financial documents
Make sure not to neglect non-financial documents as you create your inventory of documents. It is easy to forget about some of your paperwork during a divorce, so look for anything important. Include your estate planning paperwork, like your will or trust documents. Also, retrieve your prepaid funeral arrangements and your life insurance policies. If you composed a prenuptial or postnuptial agreement, be sure to have that ready as well.
Organizing your documents
You will likely have a lot of documents sitting in a pile by the time you have located them all, so consider how to organize them. When your attorney or financial advisor asks to see one of your documents, you should have a system in place that lets you locate and retrieve whatever they need. You may keep all your checking account information in one place, your real estate papers in another, and so on.
