If you and your spouse have decided to get a divorce, there are a few things that you should do together before starting the formal divorce process.

#1 Gather Financial Documents

The first thing that you two should do together is gather all important financial documents and make sure that each of you have copies of all of these documents. This is a vital step if both of you were in charge of different expenses during your marriage.

You are going to need to get copies of all of your tax returns for the past few years, regardless of whether you filed them together or separately. Next, you're going to need access to statements for all of your banking and savings account. Then, you need to obtain statements that indicate the current state of all pension and retirement accounts that each of you have. If you have any outside investments, you will need to gather these financial documents as well.

This step will go significantly smoother if you and your spouse work together to gather this information instead of fight each other. This will allow both of you to accelerate the divorce process by starting the divorce off with each party having all the right financial documents that they need.

#2 Review Your Expenses

It can be easy to not realize how many monthly expenses that you have. Sit down with your spouse and together figure out what your monthly expenses are together. This includes the obvious, such as your household bills, credit card payments and loan payments. This should also include the non-obvious expenses, such as the money that you spend on food, entertainment and pet care each month.

After you review your expenses together, sit down on your own and figure out what your expenses would be if you divorced. Figure out how your housing may change and what you would pay for it. Try to figure out your budget for all of your non-obvious expenses as well. Doing this will give you a more realistic idea of how much money you need to set aside or get for spousal support.

#3 Set Aside Money For The Divorce

Finally, getting divorced is not free. If you currently share expenses, you should each set aside money to pay for the divorce. Discuss where the funds will come from for your divorce and ensure that you both have the money you need to go through with the actual divorce. 

Taking these three steps together with your spouse will help make the actual divorce process go smoother when you work together on the financial side before you begin the formal proceedings. For more information, contact a firm such as Law Office of Dalia Rasha Kejbou, P.C.