How do I protect myself before and during a divorce?

There are several ways to protect your property both before and during a divorce. Many of them are enumerated below.

1. Cancel All Jointly Owned Credit Cards

Meet with your spouse and inform them that you intend to cancel the cards before you do so. It only takes five or ten minutes to cancel your credit cards. If your spouse already has the cards and has started to go on a spending-spree, report the cards as stolen. The card will be canceled and you may only be liable for the first $50 of whatever charges were put on the card.

2. Safeguard All Jointly Owned Bank Accounts

A very common act by angry spouses is to "clean out" a joint account, leaving you with nothing. Remove one-half of the balance of the account, and inform your spouse in writing that you've done so. Make arrangements with your spouse to ensure that any outstanding bills are covered. By taking one-half of the account balance, you are claiming what is rightly yours without attempting to financially ruin your spouse. If you open up a new account, do it at a different bank; don't stay with the same banking company.

3. Secure Your More Valuable Personal Property

If you have a stamp or coin collection, firearms, or similar valuable personal items, find a safe place away from the home to store them for a while. Personal mementos and other irreplaceable items should also be stored somewhere safe. This applies only to your personal property, not common possessions or community property. If at all possible, meet with your spouse and discuss this with them.

4. Inventory And Safeguard Any Stored Property

If you have safety deposit boxes or storage units, remove whatever personal property is yours. Again, store it away from the home in a secure location. If, for example, your spouse removes items and disposes of them, it may be very hard later to prove who the items belonged to, or if they even existed at all. Video taping all stored property is also a good idea.

5. Make A Record Of All Marital Property

The best way to do this is with a camcorder. (If possible, do this together with your spouse. If that isn't possible, make a copy of the tape for him or her.) Inventory the entire home and it's contents. Pull items out where they can be seen, and open up drawers so the contents are visible when you tape. Make sure the "date" function is turned on so the date is visible when the tape is viewed. Take the videotape and store it away from the home. If objects "disappear" from the family home, you'll have a solid record of what is missing.

6. Move Your Personal Papers And Records

Move Your Personal Papers And Records To A Safe Location, AWAY From The Family Home. These papers should include (but not be limited to): your birth certificate, diplomas, pension papers, and all other personal documents. These papers must be stored someplace where your spouse will have no access to them, such as a trusted friend or co-worker's home. For jointly owned records (bank statements, real estate records, titles, deeds, her tax returns and W2 statements, etc.), make two copies of everything, and give one copy your spouse. Store your copy in a safe location.

7. Don't stop keeping ordinary business records when you divorce

If you are a professional, for example, and you stop keeping your usual records used to bill clients through a billing service and start relying on informally asking your clients to pay you from time to time, this decreases the likelihood that you will be able to keep the funds that you earn after separation. The funds that you as a professional earn after separation will need to be carefully allocated.

If you cannot show that the money your received from your client/patient after separation was for work that you did after separation, this is going to create difficulties and it is going to subject more of your records to review.

8. Learn what your spouse has been doing with the property

If your spouse has been driving the car that you will be receiving after the divorce, you need to obtain records to make sure that the parking tickets, liens and registration have been paid. You should learn whether your spouse has done anything to have any liens placed against the real estate and accounts where money has been deposited.