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Making the decision to end a marriage can be a life-changing one and can affect your wellbeing in a number of ways. However, one potential pitfall is that it can be easy to overlook the financial implications of divorce while you’re working through the emotional ones. If you’re in the process of getting divorced, working with a professional can help to sort out the financial implications of the decision, giving you one less thing to worry about. Read on to find out four ways that working with a planner can help you.
1. A planner can help you to reassess your retirement plans
Typically, one of the biggest ways that a divorce will affect you financially is by forcing you to re-think your retirement plans. Most couples tend to organise their finances as one unit, as this can help them to make things simpler and enable them to maximise their tax allowances. Many also plan for retirement together, which can pose a problem where divorce is concerned. Since you may have to split your pension assets with your ex-partner, there is a concern that your remaining wealth will no longer be able to support your desired lifestyle in retirement. If this is the case, you may need to re-evaluate your plans. Working with a financial planner can help you to reorganise your finances to ensure that you can maintain your long-term comfort and financial security after the divorce has been settled.
2. A financial planner can help to ensure you’re still protected
As with pension arrangements, many couples also have joint protection policies in place, such as life insurance. If you do, divorce can pose potential issues but working with a professional can help you to overcome them. Typically, unless you have a “separation benefit”, you won’t be able to divide your joint insurance policy with your ex-partner. If this is the case, you will have the choice between one of you taking on the joint arrangement as a single policy or cancelling it altogether and organising another one. If you would rather take over the policy, there are a few things that you’ll need to bear in mind. One of the most important ones is that you’ll now be responsible for paying the insurance premiums and that cover will cease if you fail to keep up with them. Furthermore, you’ll also have to decide who benefits from the payout. Working with a planner can make the process of changing the policy much smoother, such as by helping you to change the beneficiary of your protection. They can also be useful if you and your ex-partner would prefer to discard the joint policy and organise separate ones.
3. They can help you to prove that you can take on the mortgage
Housing arrangements can sometimes be a difficult issue when a marriage ends. One of the biggest concerns that most separating couples have is the issue of who should remain in the marital home and take on the mortgage. If you decide that you want to take on your home when it comes to dividing assets, it’s important to be able to prove that you can cover the costs of your mortgage repayments. This is where working with a professional can help. A financial planner can be useful to help ensure that all your finances are in order and can also work with your lender on your behalf to show that you have enough wealth to take on the loan by yourself.
4. A financial planner can give you greater peace of mind
Divorce can be an incredibly difficult time emotionally as you have to make significant changes to your life. When you feel like you’ve got a hundred different things to think about, it can be comforting to know that you have someone there to help. When you separate from a long-term partner, financial concerns are the last thing you need. A planner can help to deal with some of the complicated aspects of the divorce on your behalf, giving you more peace of mind and helping you to move on with your life.
Get in touch
If you’re going through a divorce, you may need financial advice now more than ever. If you want to find out more about how we can help you, get in touch. Email us at office@verve-financial.com or call 0330 320 5048.
Please note:
Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on a mortgage or other loans secured on it. A pension is a long-term investment. The fund value may fluctuate and can go down, which would have an impact on the level of pension benefits available. Your pension income could also be affected by the interest rates at the time you take your benefits. The tax implications of pension withdrawals will be based on your individual circumstances, tax legislation and regulation, which are subject to change in the future. Mediation and negotiation of divorce settlements is not regulated by the FCA. This article contains external links which will direct you away from the Verve Financial site.
