Being able to afford your divorce may be one of your largest obstacles when you are considering whether to end your marriage. You will need enough money to hire a divorce attorney and support yourself when the process starts. You cannot rely on being able to immediately access the money in your marital accounts, which may be frozen. If you are financially depending on your spouse, it could take months to establish spousal maintenance payments. In order to afford a divorce, you can start saving money while married and consider other sources of financial support.
Emergency Fund
You need a source of money that is independent of your marital bank account. It could be an individual savings account or cash, as long as it is secure and easily accessible. Your savings should come from individual sources of income because taking the money from a joint account will draw suspicion from your spouse. The money could be:
- A portion of your regular wages that you divert into the account during every pay period;
- Gifts that you receive from family and friends; or
- Earnings that you receive from doing various jobs.
You should use this money only for divorce-related expenses and your basic living needs after filing for divorce. While an emergency fund can stay secret during your marriage, you must disclose it during your divorce because the money could be marital property. Keep a record of where the money in the account came from. Your spouse may have an emotional reaction to learning about your emergency fund. Expect that he or she will be upset with you and demand that you explain.