Divorce doesn’t happen overnight. Even in the best cases, it’s probably going to take weeks or months before you finish the divorce case. And this is if you and your spouse agree that you want to get divorced and are willing to work together toward that outcome. If your spouse is combative or non-cooperative, or if there are a lot of disagreements about the terms of the divorce, it can take longer.
This does raise some financial questions. We recently discussed the dissipation of marital assets, which is when someone spends money down rapidly before divorce. This is often done as a form of financial fraud, and they’re just trying to prevent their ex from getting a fair share of those financial assets. But does this mean you can’t spend at all during the divorce?
Avoiding lavish spending
There are no prohibitions on spending money. Understandably, you would have to pay for transportation, food, housing and other necessities. If you have children, you need to keep the lights on and you need to keep food on the table. You’re inevitably going to spend a significant amount of money, especially if your divorce takes six months to a year.
What you want to avoid, however, is lavish spending that goes beyond your necessities. Buying a new car because yours broke down is one thing. Buying an exotic sports car that costs more than most people’s homes is quite another. Taking a business trip for networking or a conference is likely permitted. Traveling constantly just to spend the money on plane tickets and hotels could be viewed as the dissipation of assets.
So your spending habits do matter, and these financial issues may lead to conflict during the divorce. Be sure you know what legal steps to take to navigate these disagreements.