Preparing for Divorce in Mississippi: Step 3A – What does your family own?
Step 3A – Determine what your family owns
Continuing with Step 3 in our series regarding preparing for divorce in Mississippi, your first step is to understand what you have, or put another way, what are your assets. For some, this is an easy step as you may be the one in charge of the family finances. For others, you may be in the dark as to what you own. The key is to find out what you and your spouse own, both together and separately.
Here are the obvious ones—homes, cars, bank accounts, retirement accounts, recreational vehicles and household furnishings. The less obvious ones are stocks, bonds, deferred compensation plans, and business interest.
Use the financial worksheet used in Mississippi (see previous post) as a guide to listing assets. You also need to gather documents verifying the identity of these assets—deeds of trust, titles, bank account statements, and other documents that describe the assets and/or their value.
A little work on your part in the beginning will save you in attorney fees down the road. If you can’t obtain the documents, then your lawyer may be able to get them once a complaint for divorce is filed. However, any work done on your own is apt to later save you in attorney fees. Do your homework.
