4 Things a Pre-Decree Divorce Agreement Should Include

When divorcing your spouse, it’s critical to know about things like pre-decree divorce settlements. These can help streamline your breakup and cut back on trial time. However, they have to be done properly to ensure that everyone is satisfied. The following four things must be on every pre-decree divorce settlement, depending on your situation.

1. Property Splits

You and your spouse likely own a lot of property together, including a home, furniture, vehicles, televisions, and much more. Your pre-decree divorce settlement needs to include how you plan on splitting this property. It often goes line-by-line for each item, so make sure that you take the time to carefully work through this with mediators, ensuring that there aren’t any disputes after the divorce is over.

2. Child Support

If you have children and you’re worried about the divorce, that’s understandable. After all, according to Legaljobs, about 50% of all American children will go through their parents’ divorce. It’s therefore critical to set up child support payments to keep your little ones financially healthy. Frankly, it’s usually the most difficult part and will require working very hard to get right.

3. Alimony

Divorcing your spouse requires you to do more than split up property and establish child support. It’s also critical to get alimony right, especially if one of you relies on the other for financial help. This alimony may only be a temporary requirement (such as if you’re between jobs) but is critical in a pre-decree divorce settlement. Like with child support, it can be very tricky to get right.

4. Visitation Rights

While child support is an important part of the divorce process, you also need to set up visitation rights between you and your spouse. Will one of you have primary custody, and the other gets occasional visits? Or will you split them evenly? It all depends on your needs and ability to pay, so make sure that you set these up properly to give your child the parental support they need.

Keep these important facts in mind when creating a pre-decree divorce settlement. It can help make divorcing your spouse much smoother and improve your overall experience. Working with experienced mediators can help simplify this complex process. If you’re not sure where to start, please don’t hesitate to contact us to learn more about how we can help you.