When parties divorce, one of the "tasks" that must be completed is the division of assets. In Illinois, marital property is divided equitably, which is not necessarily equally. There are several factors the Court considers when allocating assets, including the length of the marriage; generally, where there is a long-term marriage, the property settlement weighs in favor of the party who has the lower earning potential. Unfortunately, often the party who has the lower earning potential simply does not know what is there as far as marital assets are concerned. Thus, one of the first steps in a case is simply to determine what the parties have to divide (the legal term for this is discovery). Once both parties know what assets they each have, it becomes much easier to attempt to negotiate the division of assets.Often, certain "assets" are disclosed and one party does not understand if the asset even has value (example: life insurance policies). A Woman's Guide to Investing is a good reference for questions of this type.
In addition, once the divorce is finalized, it can help determine what is best to do with the assets received in the Judgment. Certain chapters such as "Introduction to Investing," "Principles of Planning" and "Working with Advisors" may be quite helpful.
And, as always, despite the title of the book, I believe the advice contained therein is chiefly gender-neutral. It certainly is not always the case where the woman is the party in a divorce that is in the dark regarding assets.
