As a business owner, keeping informed about the finer points of employment law is important. If you're getting ready to hire your first employees, you need to be sure that you understand exactly what you can and cannot do. Don't risk getting yourself into legal trouble by asking the wrong question at the interview or making an off-hand comment that's considered legally unacceptable. I created this site to give you the basics of employment law expectations. I hope that the information here helps you to understand what you should and shouldn't do as you're interviewing and hiring your first staff members.
Irene Robertson
If you've reached the conclusion that your marriage is over, you've probably already been thinking about divorce for a while. But before you go through with it, you should take steps to make sure that you will be ready to make it to the other side fully intact. Here are three tips to help you get through your divorce and move on with your life.
Create Your Own Nest Egg
If you and your husband currently share the same bank account, you are going to need to open your own as soon as possible. Ideally, you want to be making deposits into this account to save up some money that only you can access after you tell him you want a divorce. Hopefully things will go smoothly, but you never know if he will try to restrict your access to the joint bank account or if the divorce court will put a freeze on the account until after everything is finalized. If you don't want him to find out about the bank account until after you file, consider opening a P.O. Box as the address for the new account or make sure that your sign up for electronic statements only.
Create a Budget for Known and Unknown Expenses
If your husband handles most of the finances, you need to start taking steps towards greater independence right now. Create a budget with all of your monthly bills. Don't forget things like food, gas and other daily essentials. You should also budget for things that could end up being a surprise, like if your husband decides to kick you off his employer's health plan the moment you file for the divorce.
Hire an Attorney
Even if you think the divorce will go well and both you and your soon to be ex are on generally good terms, you should still hire your own divorce lawyer to go to bat for you in court. A divorce lawyer will have additional tips and best practices to help you prepare for the day you are on your own. Hiring an attorney can be especially important if there are children in the equation and you fear a custody battle is on the horizon.
Before you file for divorce, take a step back and make sure you are financially prepared for what's ahead. If you can handle staying in the marriage for just a little bit longer, it might be worth it to help you build up a nest egg or to get a better idea of your montthly expenses before you pull the plug. For more information, reach out to a local divorce lawyer from a firm like Armstrong Betker and Schaeffer PLC.