You and your spouse have decided to get a divorce, and while you know that you will most likely appear before a Virginia family court judge, you may not know how to best prepare for the divorce proceedings and settlement negotiations.

Divorce can be a very trying time. Not only are you ending an important relationship, but you must also consider who will have custody of the children and how much the other spouse will pay in child support, how you want to divide marital property, and whether you or your spouse is eligible to receive alimony.

Although nothing can replace hiring an attorney that is familiar with divorce in Virginia, there are some things that you can do to get yourself ready.

  • If you have children, determine under whose health insurance the children will be covered. Sign the children up under whichever parent has better coverage for less.
  • Figure out how much you or your other spouse will need to pay to ensure your children are cared and provided for. Judges will generally have the ultimate say on how much the non-custodial parent will pay, but knowing how much money should be spent will be a good place to start.
  • Separate your money from your spouse's. If you have joint financial accounts, open an individual account and make sure all future income is sent there. Let credit card companies know that you are divorcing in order to mitigate your responsibility for your spouse's purchases.
  • Consult legal and financial specialists on how to best divide retirement benefits. Retirement plans can be extremely tricky to divide equitably and one concern is an accurate appraisal of the worth of a plan.

Obviously there is much more to divorcing than just this, but completing these tasks and knowing how much your assets are worth will help your lawyer push for a truly equitable division of property.

Source: The Huffington Post, "We're Getting A Divorce, Now What?" Linda Descano, Feb. 1, 2012