require steady counsel.
Find Your New Financial Footing
Strategic guidance for property division, spousal maintenance, and the financial realities of divorce.
In divorce, financial worries keep almost everyone up at night. It doesn’t matter what scenario you’re coming from. The lower wage earner is anxious about the drastic lifestyle shift they might be facing. The higher earner frets over losing all they’ve built to unequal property division and overwhelming spousal maintenance. Professionals with equal incomes wring their hands over the intense and complicated number crunching, especially if business ownership is in the mix.
At DuBois Levias Law Group, we focus on your financial future from the jump. No matter what, your economic situation is about to change markedly. There is typically no going back on what you can get after the divorce. Our financially savvy attorneys and expert advisors give you the best shot at securing a solid settlement you can actually live with.
Gathering Paperwork
The first order of business? Finding out what you have. Even before initiating your divorce, start getting together all your financial paperwork, especially if you have a secretive or greedy spouse. Find bank accounts, tax returns, business records, credit card statements, mortgages, titles, stocks, bonds, and retirement accounts. Even non-marital assets for accounting purposes.
“Paperwork” might be a misnomer too. This is no longer as easy as rifling through file cabinets. Many of our financial documents exist online now. It can take some sleuthing, or even subpoenas.
Adding It Up
Our team is skilled at helping gather financial data and putting together spreadsheets. Once you have all the raw data, it’s time for a math exercise. Even put it on a flip chart, like lawyers do in the courtroom all the time, to see the straight numbers.
First, list the value of your assets- including assets you don’t think belong to the marital community. Next, subtract the marital debts you have on the community portion of your assets. Then you can figure out what the net community number is. You’ll also want to chart your separate assets. Don’t worry, we’ll help you with all of this- but this overview is just to help you understand where you’re heading.
Dividing It Out
Washington State starts from the proposition that assets are divided “equitably” this generally means close to a 50/50 split- but on occasion one party gets awarded more than half. This is a nuanced process that we’re here to help with. We know how courts approach a situation where spouses are on unequal financial footing and we’ll analyze the factors that might support a disproportionate percentage split. It really does depend on the bigger financial landscape of each spouse.
Property Division and Community Property in Washington State
Washington is one of only a few community property states in the country. In a divorce, most assets and debts acquired during the marriage are considered community property and are subject to division. However, property division in Washington is not always a strict 50/50 split.
Our Seattle property division attorneys help clients protect their financial interests during divorce, including complex and high-asset cases involving businesses, investments, retirement accounts, and real estate.
Spousal Maintenance (Alimony)
Spousal maintenance, commonly called alimony, is one of the most important financial issues in a Washington divorce. In some cases, no maintenance is necessary because both spouses earn similar incomes. In others, one spouse may pay support for a temporary or long-term period depending on the circumstances of the marriage.
Legalese Defined: Discovery
Discovery is the process of uncovering the assets from the other side. This legal step before your settlement or trial is critical in a divorce proceeding. This can take the form of everything from voluntarily sharing information to legal requests for production to interrogatories to subpoenas. Discovery can root out misconduct, falsehoods, and hidden assets.
Hire a Law Firm that Loves to Crunch Numbers.
We dig a solid gold spreadsheet—and know how to follow convoluted paper trails to uncover assets. Financially complicated divorces are our strong suit. We have a long history litigating high asset cases, especially those involving a business. We hire back-up too. Our CPAs and valuation experts are skilled at both complex accounting and testifying in court as needed.