Tips To Prepare Divorce Expense Worksheet

By Diane Sanders


Splitting assets is a common practice associated with divorce procedures. While separation is the best solutions to issues affecting marriage, individuals are faced with financial problems during and after divorce. Legal experts need a well structured financial report to determine who needs financial assistance and how to separate assets. Below is a list of things every individual needs to know about creating divorce expense worksheet.

Spouses engaged in separation, prepare spreadsheets and submit it before a judge. A spreadsheet contains columns for pre-divorce monthly income and expenditure. It also contains other columns for estimated income and expenses during post-divorce. A well-prepared spreadsheet helps the judge to identify the ability of a spouse to pay child support and alimony. The court is able to determine if a spouse needs financial support.

Individuals are required to submit financial reports during hearings of separation cases. Financial reports can be written on a piece of paper or spreadsheets. A spreadsheet is a computer software designed to calculate costs based on the needs of an individual. Since your separation expense spreadsheet involves basic calculations, you only need to use simple formulas like addition and subtraction. Ease of use and accuracy are some of the reasons people choose spreadsheets.

Preparing pre-divorce budgets can be daunting, however, you should be calm when creating spreadsheets. Avoid emotional ties when preparing worksheets. Start by listing your sources of income to create a realistic budget. Take a look at your tax return reports to identify steady sources of income for the last two or three years.

All your tax information should be indicated on the worksheet. However, avoid calculating tax returns if your previous returns were filed jointly as couples. Remember, this financial report determines how much you pay or receive for child expenses or alimony. Individuals who are unable to record a steady flow of income should not fill income details. Legal experts advice you indicate income status if you are sure of earning some cash as self-employed or employee.

Your expenditure history is an important factor to consider before submitting a financial report to the court. Write down the amount of cash you spend on various things such as insurance, utility bills, and mortgage. Other expenses such as gym membership, entertainment or vacations should be listed. Remember, you can choose to forego extra expenses for some time to reduce your expenditure.

Add both basic expenditure and luxury expenses to get the actual figure you spend monthly. The next step is to calculate each group of expenditure and subtract the total amounts. You can decide to save the difference by cutting off luxury expenses or continue paying for unnecessary services and products.

Now, that you have created a budget, you need to put extra effort to stick to it. Remember, changes made on your expenditure should not be permanent. You only need to go without some items for a while as you get started after marriage annulment. Creating an expense worksheet does not require any special skill, but if you have difficulty with a budget consider hiring an attorney.




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