The Third "Must Do" After your Divorce

Today I am going to talk about some of the most important steps you should take in your divorce action and they're actually after the divorce is over. There are five "must do's" to protect yourself, which I will be covering during the next few days.

The third “to do” is to take action to avoid those unpleasant surprises months or sometimes years down the road after your divorce is finalized and you are ready to retire.

Don't be in for a shock when it is time to retire and withdraw those retirement funds. You want to make sure those funds are available for you. Too often pensions or iras, seps, or other types of retirement funds are just ignored after the divorce.

If you are receiving the entire asset then just be sure your name is the only name that is shown as the owner and, if that fund provides for a beneficiary designation, make sure the beneficiary of your choice is designated.

If you are receiving part of a pension or retirement fund from the other party's employment, make certain that a qualified domestic relations order is entered and other necessary documents to guarantee your rights in that fund. Also be certain that the pension company knows how to contact you at all times. This pension may be payable years from now and after several moves, how are they going to give you your money if they don't know how to find you?

Finally, if issues arise post divorce, consider mediation. Divorce Mediation is a great method of resolving issues and the sooner that you address them, the easier and more comfortable they are to resolve. Once an issue has time to fester, finding a good solution acceptable to both parties will be much more difficult.

Divorce Mediation will save you time, money and most important, will take the stress away from you and your children by facing issues head-on when first discovered. Keep a divorce mediator handy for any post divorce issues which may arise.