I just wanted to share a few pointers that I personally learned and benefitted from in my divorce. Most often, laws and guidelines dictate things like alimony, division of assets, custody, child support. Most of it is just equations. However, within those equations are variables and assumptions based in those variables. A good divorce lawyer will have experts available to build justification. There’s three misnomers where experts make a difference.

  1. 401Ks. Most people think that their 401K division is calculated by subtracting the pre marital value from the current value and dividing that in half. Absolutely wrong. Your ex is entitled to half of the contributions during the marriage and half of the gains on those contributions during the marriage. That’s it. A good financial planner can dissect this.

  2. Imputed income. There are HR consultants that can provide studies on your ex’s earning potential. This is based on training, education, the job market, etc. As an example, your ex could be an RN but works as a school nurse making $40K per year at your kids school, yet hospitals pay $80k per year and there is a high demand in your area. She has an imputed income of $80K. Imputed income can be used to calculate CS and alimony.

  3. Pensions. In most all states, your ex is entitled to the incremental portion of your pension which only accrued during the marriage. Get your companies formula. A CPA will use that, actuaries, retirement age, taxes, growth assumptions etc. to determine the present value of her share.

Being transparent, I spent a lot of money on my divorce. I also was able to guard what was rightfully mine.