As a stay-at-home parent, am I
financially protected once
I’m married?

Lisa and Kathleen delve into the myth that as a stay-at-home parent, you don’t have to worry about finances. Getting married can offer many benefits, including financial ones. It can also bring some devastating financial consequences. Couples who don’t talk about money before they get married might find themselves in a situation where they feel they are shouldering more of the financial burden than their partner. Having these hard conversations before getting married sets financial expectations from the beginning, helps build trust, and reduces financial conflict.

Key Take Aways:

1. Believe and understand marriage is a financial partnership. Once you understand your marriage is a financial partnership, each partner has the ability to negotiate a better outcome for themselves, if things start to fall apart. Negotiations can be done before or during marriage with pre- or post-nuptials. Honesty and understanding finances actually build a stronger relationship.
2. Understand your finances and budget. If you are in the process of getting a divorce, it’s important to understand your finances. This includes expenses and all sources of income – salaries, child support, alimony, etc. Once you know this information, you will know what your expenses are and how much income you will need to meet those expenses.
3. Identify all of your assets. Another important step in the divorce process is to identify your assets. This can be harder to do if you aren’t involved in financial decisions. Working with professionals can ease the difficulty in locating assets – both personal and business for either stay-at-home moms or dads to help them understand what their whole financial picture actually is.

Lisa Zeiderman, a Managing Partner of the law firm of Miller Zeiderman & Wiederkehr, LLP, is both a matrimonial attorney, a Certified Divorce Financial Analyst and a Certified Financial Litigator. It was during her own divorce that Lisa’s path to a career in matrimonial law was forged. Lisa, a businesswoman in the fashion industry, was dismayed at being a bystander in court as complex issues relating to her finances were contested by a disorganized attorney. It was then she decided that she would go to law school herself and help clients navigate the stressful, and sometimes traumatic, process of divorce by becoming a responsive attorney who would protect her clients’ assets as though they were her own hard-earned dollars. 

Show Notes:

• Reach out to Lisa at lz@mzw-law.com for more information about her firm’s services.