The first thing you need to do before attempting to reach a financial agreement is to ensure the day-to-day finances are sorted out. Ensuring you can continue to pay your bills is vital, before deciding who gets what.
To avoid any agreement becoming unfair, you want to build up an overall picture of your current financial position as a couple and work out:
What you have to split (income and assets)
How much you each owe (debts and liabilities)
Options for how everything could be split
This will give you a good basis to negotiate a fair divorce settlement. Both parties are required to give full financial disclosure. Parties should not hide assets from their ex-partner in an attempt to get a ‘better’ settlement.
It’s common for married couples to share bank accounts, especially when they have children together.
If you have joint bank accounts, credit cards, or loans, you should contact your providers to set up new separate accounts. You will need to update your employers and any other organisations you receive money from.
Again, you cannot go and transfer assets out of joint bank accounts to avoid paying your ex-husband or wife a fair share of all held matrimonial assets.