Financial planning for divorce starts earlier than most people expect, and not with investments. It starts with what the court is going to make you put in writing, because that document tends to decide more than any strategy does.
Here is the order to do it in, and the five mistakes that cost people the most.
Financial Planning for Divorce, Where Do You Start?
Start with a complete and documented picture of what you own and owe, because that is what the court requires, what every negotiation runs on, and the one thing nobody can do for you.
Strategy comes second. A plan built on numbers you guessed at falls apart the first time it is tested.
What Financial Information Does the Court Require?
In St. Louis County you file financial statements on a schedule, and the deadline for the responding party is short.
Under Rule 68, the petitioner files financial statements with their first pleading. The respondent “shall electronically file financial statements within sixty (60) days of service or entry of appearance, whichever is earlier.”
Two things follow from that.
- Sixty days is not long to locate account statements, retirement balances, tax returns and debt figures, particularly if your spouse handled the finances.
- The clock starts at service or entry of appearance, not when you feel ready.
If your case is in the City of St. Louis, St. Charles County or Jefferson County, confirm the current local rules there, because the requirements and dates are not identical. Our page on the St. Louis County Family Court covers how that court runs.
What Happens If You Miss the Deadline?
In Missouri, a missed financial filing deadline has decided the value of an entire marital estate.
In Hutcherson v. Hutcherson, 909 S.W.2d 403 (Mo. App. W.D. 1995), a spouse missed a thirty day local rule deadline for filing a property statement. That circuit’s rule said the noncomplying party “shall be deemed to have accepted the Schedule filed by the other party and the stated values therein, and at trial the noncomplying party shall not be permitted to offer evidence contradicting the filed Schedules.”
The trial court held that “the values stand as set forth on Petitioner’s statement of marital and nonmarital property” and refused to hear evidence to the contrary. **Affirmed.**
No argument about what anything was worth, because a calendar entry had already answered it. That was another circuit’s rule and the numbers differ here, but the lesson does not.
What 5 Mistakes Cost People the Most?
Five specific errors do most of the financial damage in a divorce, and four of them happen before anyone argues about anything.
- Missing the filing deadline. See above. This is the cheapest disaster to avoid and the hardest to fix.
- Estimating values instead of documenting them. A number you cannot support is a number that will be replaced by your spouse’s number.
- Moving money during the case. In St. Louis County, Rule 68.3 restricts closing or borrowing against accounts, encumbering property, incurring extraordinary debt, and causing accounts or credit lines to be “restricted, modified or closed.” Written consent or a court order are the two exits, and both are easy to get when the need is real.
- Assuming the property split can be revisited. Under RSMo 452.330 the division of property is a final order not subject to modification. Support and custody can change later. This cannot.
- Signing an agreement you have not understood. Under RSMo 452.325, the terms are “binding upon the court unless it finds, after considering the economic circumstances of the parties and any other relevant evidence produced by the parties, that the separation agreement is unconscionable.” Unconscionability is the ground. Regret is not.
Read four and five together. The split is permanent, and the review a judge gives your agreement is for unconscionability rather than for whether you got a good deal.
What Should You Gather Before Your First Meeting?
Everything with a number on it, and a note beside anything you cannot find.
Working through this list is the single most productive thing you can do, and it is the same list the court will eventually want.
- Income. Recent pay information for both of you, and the last two to three years of tax returns.
- Bank and investment accounts. Statements for every account, including ones only in your spouse’s name.
- Retirement. Pensions, employer plans, IRAs. These are frequently the largest asset in the marriage and the most commonly undervalued.
- Real estate. The home, any rental property, any second property, with mortgage balances.
- Business interests. Any ownership stake, however small.
- Debts. Cards, loans, lines of credit, tax liabilities.
- Insurance and annuities. Policies, cash values, and current beneficiary designations.
- Children’s costs. Childcare, medical, school, activities. These carry more weight than people expect.
Our pages on division of property and marital versus separate property cover how those items get classified, and our FAQ on dividing marital property covers the split itself.
Should You Hire a Financial Professional Too?
For a complicated estate, often yes, and it is a genuinely different job from what a lawyer does.
A lawyer works out what is marital, how it is likely to be divided, and what the judgment needs to say. A financial professional works out what a given division actually means for you over the following twenty years, which is a question about cash flow, tax treatment and risk rather than about law.
Where that second question is worth paying for.
- Substantial retirement assets, or more than one plan.
- A business interest, rental property or other asset that needs valuing.
- A large gap in earning capacity between the two of you.
- A choice between keeping the house and keeping liquid assets.
If you and your spouse currently share a financial advisor, ask that advisor directly how they handle it. Some can continue acting for one of you and some cannot, and the answer depends on their own professional obligations rather than on anything in your divorce. Asking the question plainly is better than assuming either way.
What Can a Family Lawyer Do and Not Do Here?
We can tell you what the court will require and what the law does with each asset. We are not financial advisors and we will not give you investment advice.
Being clear about that boundary is more useful than blurring it. What sits on our side of the line.
- What is likely marital and what is likely separate.
- What has to be disclosed, in what form, by when.
- What the judgment needs to say so an allocation actually works, including refinance deadlines and orders needed to move retirement money.
- What a realistic range of outcomes looks like on your facts.
What sits on the other side is how to invest what you end up with, and that is a conversation for someone licensed to have it.
Where the numbers are the whole dispute, mediation is often faster and cheaper than litigating them, and how long a Missouri divorce takes covers the schedule you are planning against.
Who Can Help With Financial Planning for Divorce in St. Louis?
The most useful first meeting is the one you bring documents to, and gathering them is work you can start today.
Bardol Law Firm practices only family law, and we are in the Clayton, St. Louis City, St. Charles and Jefferson County courts regularly.
Bring what you have from the list above, including the gaps. We will tell you plainly what the court will need, what your realistic range looks like, and whether your case is complicated enough to justify bringing in a financial professional. Sometimes the answer is that it is not. Our other family law questions and answers cover what comes next.
If the finances have always been handled by your spouse, you are not starting from behind by asking now. Every client gets a named paralegal on the file, and we generally return calls within one business day. Call 314.918.0100 or reach us through our contact page. Family Law, Simplified. Fill out the form or call to set up a consultation.
This page is general information about Missouri law and is not legal advice. Every case turns on its own facts. The choice of a lawyer is an important decision and should not be based solely upon advertisements.