Make Sure You Do Your Homework Before Divorce Mediation
Have you and your spouse made the decision to go forward with mediation for your divorce? That’s a great first step—but now you need to start getting prepared.
Your mediator exists to serve as a neutral third party. They can help guide your conversations and steer you in the right direction, but they can’t make any decisions for you or advocate for a certain position, and they will be limited if you aren’t prepared yourself with a thorough knowledge of your assets and the issues of your divorce.
So what is the biggest thing you can do to start getting ready for mediation?
Create an inventory of everything you own, including:
- Real property: This includes your home, rental properties or vacation homes that you might own.
- Personal property: Physical property includes any tangible, physical assets you have in your possession, such as furniture, books, artwork, jewelry and collectibles.
- Vehicles: Vehicles can include not just cars, but also motorcycles, boats, ATVs or riding lawn mowers.
- Accounts: You and your spouse might have a variety of accounts between you, including bank accounts, savings accounts, credit cards, retirement accounts, investment accounts, life insurance policies and various other financial products.
- Income sources: List all of your income sources and get proof of those sources in the form of paystubs, profit and loss statements, pension disbursements, government benefits and anything else that applies.
- Expenses: List out all of your recurring expenses, including mortgages, car loans, personal loans, insurance costs, entertainment accounts, credit card payments, student loans, utilities, internet and anything else that is built into your monthly expenses.
Be as thorough as possible in this early preparation phase. This will make your mediation go significantly smoother.
For more information about how to proceed with your divorce and get ready for mediation, contact an experienced Long Island lawyer at Solutions Divorce Mediation.