…
Men and women who find themselves suddenly single in midlife need to plan
carefully and make thoughtful decisions about such things as how to divide up
assets and the best ways to handle the money they’ll receive.
Divorce is messy. Period. This
is especially true when your retirement or your estate are up for grabs.
When young marrieds split up,
the biggest issue may be who gets the dog. However, when
divorce happens later in life, it can present some truly unique challenges.
A recent Forbes article titled “4 Divorce Mistakes That Can Derail
Retirement” is a good hip pocket guide to help you stay in the clear.
So, what is a divorce “mistake”
that matters?
First, here is some perspective:
you are dividing your life up at a time when your life savings are more than
just a full piggy bank. There is more at stake than your dog. In fact, your
life savings will be needed shortly to fund your retirement needs.
Accordingly, a late-in-life
divorce mistake that will cost you is one that does not carefully consider the
value and use of the assets you share, or the costs.
In brief, mistakes include:
- Blithely choosing the house over other financial assets
- Ignoring the tax implications of retirement funds
- Rolling a spouse’s retirement account directly into an
IRA immediately after divorce - Dipping too much into retirement savings because of the
tax penalty waiver
Now, this list is really just
the beginning. What about your estate? Effectively, divorce is also a threat to
your current estate and future plans for it. Are you ready for half of it to
disappear?
Please
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The archive on our website contains numerous blog posts on these legal
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Reference: Forbes
(August 21, 2013) “4 Divorce Mistakes That Can Derail
Retirement”