Confident Wealth

Divorce: The Effect on Finances & Family Pt. 2

During this episode of The Confident Wealth Podcast with Bill Bush and Pete Bush, they interview Sean McAllister, Associate at Loeb Law Firm. Sean McAllister discusses how married couples can protect themselves from potential divorce issues, prenuptial agreements and post-prenuptial agreements, budgeting, and domestic cohabitation contracts.

Episode Highlights:

  • 00:28 – Bill Bush and Pete Bush introduce Sean McAllister and recap the previously discussed points from Family Law & Finances- Pt. 1.
  • 01:01 – How does Sean McAllister recommend that married couples protect themselves from potential divorce issues?
  • 02:02 – Prenuptial agreements and post-prenuptial agreements aren’t really that
  • 04:12 – What are examples of when it would be a good time to consider a post-prenuptial agreement?
  • 04:50 – How does a domestic cohabitation contract protect marriage partners?
  • 07:20 – What is Sean’s advice for someone to create a budget to work their way through these divorce protections?  
  • 09:43 – Family homes aren’t always paid off at the point of a divorce split.
  • 12:05 – Divorces can be a long drawn out process. Set money aside for court costs and living expenses.  
  • 13:39 – What happens when you fail to inform yourself about your spouse's assets on the side?
  • 17:20 – Don’t forget to change your insurance and retirement benefit beneficiaries when you get divorced.
  • 19:58 – Make sure your divorce attorney is a good fit with you and your needs.
  • 22:17 – What are some of the resources that people getting divorced should use?

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3 Key Points:

  1. The nuclear family is diminishing in favor of other alternative living arrangements, such as brothers and sisters living together or parents with their kids.
  2. Create a budget that includes the cost of living without your partner, emergency funds, and expenses you wouldn’t normally incur back when you were married.
  3. Money doesn’t care about your pride.

Tweetable Quotes:

  • “Louisiana calls for matrimonial agreements, which basically say you can contract anything that isn’t against public policy, public policy being stuff like you can’t contract out of paying child support.” – Sean McAllister
  • “I encourage prenups in situations where somebody has a child from outside of the marriage and brings it into the marriage and there are certain protections you can take to protect that child’s interest or inheritance.” – Sean McAllister
  • “Contracts in Louisiana, if you are a couple and you are not married, you can still make contracts and protect yourself. But Louisiana is a civil law state. It is not common law. So, there is no common law marriage or anything.” – Sean McAllister

Resources Mentioned:

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