When people in Connecticut decide to divorce, they may face difficult financial times as well as some unexpected surprises. In one survey of 1,785 divorcing or divorced women, analysts found that nearly half of the respondents were surprised by the state of their finances during the divorce process. Younger women were more likely to face these kinds of shocks than their older counterparts and more likely to have left most financial decisions to their husbands during the marriage.
Women of any age were often shocked by the total size of the debts of the marriage from home equity lines of credit, mortgage loans and credit card debt. This information often highlighted the need to focus on savings and investment after the divorce. Other costs were also striking, from the expenses associated with the divorce itself to the need to sign up for new healthcare plans as a single person.
For many divorcing women who had spent years as homemakers or stay-at-home mothers, returning to the workforce could be accompanied by many surprises and challenges. Many women surveyed did not expect to need to return to a job, and in the course of doing so, some were unable to achieve the salaries they desired after being outside the workforce for many years. In addition, many people expected that spousal support payments would be higher or found it hard to transition from reliance on these payments when the spousal support period ended.
People who are thinking about divorce may face their most challenging issues when dealing with financial questions. A family law attorney may work with a divorcing spouse to protect their interests and work to achieve a just settlement on issues including property division, spousal support and child custody.
