3 Legal Issues To Take Care Of After A Divorce
After receiving your divorce decree, there may be a few things left for you to wrap up before you can move on with your life. Here are three things you may need to do afterwards, and once you complete these, you will be able to slowly transition into the life of a single person:
Review the Decree
Your divorce decree is a document issued by your lawyers and through the court. It contains all of the arrangements and obligations of the divorce, but it is your responsibility to make sure it is correct. While most of the time divorce decrees are accurate, there are times when mistakes occur.
If you find a mistake on the decree, you may only have a limited amount of time to appeal it. You will have to do this through the court, and you may need to have a divorce lawyer help you. It is very important to get this done if there are mistakes because a divorce decree is legally-binding.
Take Care of Your Obligations
After the divorce is through, you may have certain things you must do in accordance with the divorce decree. One example of this is removing your spouse's name from a loan you have.
For example, if you received one of the cars through the divorce and the loan has both of your names on it, the decree might require that you take your spouse's name off the loan. You may have only a certain amount of time to do this, and you could wind up in contempt of court if you do not follow through with it.
Change Your Will and Life Insurance
If you currently have life insurance or a will, you will need to make changes on these things. Both of these things may have your spouse listed as the beneficiary, but you probably will not want him or her to receive the benefits if you die.
You may want to replace your spouse's name with the names of your children, or you might want to choose a close family member to be your beneficiary.
As you complete this step, you may also want to check other documents to make sure your ex-spouse's name is no longer present, and this includes:
- Checking and bank accounts
- Investment accounts
- Emergency contacts for e medical release purposes
Taking care of these issues sooner rather than later is a great way to find closure after a divorce. If you have any problems with your divorce decree or with your ex-spouse, you can contact a divorce lawyer for help.
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