What happens when a woman is the primary breadwinner in a divorce? To answer this question, Kimberlee turned to divorce lawyer and certified divorce financial analyst Lisa Zeiderman. In this episode, Lisa dives into some of the realities of divorce that women may not be aware of, from spousal support to commingling assets to custody concerns for female breadwinners. She also shares practical steps any woman can take today to protect their financial future.

Episode Recap:

• Today we’re talking about divorce finance with Lisa Zeiderman (1:12)
• What is a female breadwinner? (4:23)
• Why are so many women surprised by the financial implications of divorce? (7:23)
• Steps to take when you’re considering divorce (14:09)
• How can you account for time home with kids when creating a prenup? (18:37)
• Be cautious about how you commingle assets (23:51)
• If you think divorce is coming, make sure you know what your assets are! (34:14)
• Common misconceptions about female breadwinners (40:39)
• What can society do to better support female breadwinners? (46:49)
• How to learn more from Lisa (51:10)

Resources:

• Find every episode of The Fiscal Feminist podcast
• Watch The Fiscal Feminist episodes on YouTube
• Sign up to join Kimberlee on the podcast
• “The Fiscal Feminist” book
• Miller Zeiderman LLP website
• Lisa Zeiderman’s website
• Savvy Ladies website

Quotes:

“The cases that I have where I have the female breadwinner, those are the most difficult cases. And they are the most difficult cases because women don’t often take care of themselves in making sure that they have protected their finances. So I would say that’s a huge issue. And women who are the primary breadwinners have to understand that they have to either enter into some sort of agreement — and we’ll talk about that in a few minutes — but they can be responsible for child support later, they can be responsible for spousal support, and they also are going to equitably divide — in New York, some states are different but I’m a New York attorney, so I’m going to talk about New York — but they equitably divide the assets and of course the liabilities. But the fact is that many women who are the primary breadwinners wake up to a divorce and even if they started the divorce, they are shocked that they are in a situation where they are paying child support, paying spousal support, and equitably dividing those assets that maybe only they earned.” - Lisa

“Don’t be pennywise and pound foolish with this stuff. I know people kind of balk a little bit, they don’t want to pay the money for the prenup, but think about this. Down the line, this thing could save your bacon and make your retirement and the other part of your life down the road. Because if you have a really messy divorce and things don’t go according to plan, and I am the poster child for this, then this trickles down into your retirement and how long you’re going to have to work, and if you happen to live to 100, how are you going to get there? Because this thing can just be an apoplectic kind of thing to your finances if it’s not handled wisely. So you can definitely do your own prenups online. I know there are resources for that now, but I would say it’s worth putting money towards a prenup, because this is going to be the defining document down the road if things go awry. It’s worth it, because that few thousand dollars you’re going to spend on a prenup could save you hundreds of thousands of dollars or even more down the line.” – Kimberlee