Divorce question -- financial impact?

Question

I'm thinking about divorcing my wife. I'm 30, she's 28. No kids. What financial impact? Will she get my $? Emotionally I can't handle her anymore and i'm thinking of divorce, just curious of the financial impact.

Answer 1

Don't know, I've always walked away w/out anything. But think of is this way. Marital assets are split in half and so is the debt.

Answer 2

It depends on the state you live in, but not tremendously. Each of you will suffer a drop in standard of living, because now you need to maintain two households; divorce is "two can live as cheaply as one" in reverse.

Specifics of your case matter not at all, at least not in the way you'd they would. The court system actually wants to split things up in a careless haphazard way that appears fair on the surface, much like Solomon cutting the baby in half to divide it equally; except that Solomon only pretended that was the plan, and for the court system that's the actual plan. Things are only pre-mariltal assets until it's inconvenient for the judge, etc..

It may be an unpleasant thing to accept, but when you have no kids, all that the two of you have together is property. In principle, the two of you can negotiate how to divide it, without lawyers. Whatever portion of the split you can agree on, the court will accept. The part you can't agree on is left to be decided by the lawyers and the courts. If you can negotiate the whole thing, good for both of you.

The person with the better earning capacity will end up having to pay off the one with less earning capacity, because that's easiest for the judge and the courts. This framework actually provides an incentive for golddiggers, and yes, that's how it really works.

The best piece of free divorce advice you'll ever get is "Don't get her pregnant." Children make divorce much more complicated.

Answer 3

Depends on the state in which you file. For example, the state of Florida says anyone who divorces in that state has to pay a state fee of $364.00. Also, they take into account if she was working throughout the marriage or not. Then she may be entitled to alimony. Hopefully you don't have any property, stocks, bonds, etc. Almost anything accrued while married, she may be entitled to a portion.