Divorce can be both stressful and somewhat costly. As a result, you may find that you need some financial support post-divorce. It’s important to know what your options are, and how you can even ask those close to you for help…
How to Ask for Financial Support Post-Divorce: Helpful Steps
Explore your choices
When you’re looking for financial support post-divorce, it’s good to consider what your choices are. For example, some people may turn to their bank for a loan. While these can be helpful in the moment, how much you can receive will depend on things like your credit score. This will also impact any sort of interest rate you’ll need to deal with.
If your work has laid you off, then you can also seek out unemployment benefits. These will help you get some cash flow while you look for a new job. However, many will wonder about asking their friends and family. While they may have helped you before, bringing money into the mix can complicate things, so it’s good to know how to make this process easier for everyone.
Be prepared
If you want to ask your friends and family for financial support post-divorce, you need to be prepared. Just going to them and asking for money will get you nowhere and strain your relationship. Rather, if you really want their help, you should show them that by getting yourself ready.
In particular, it’s good to set up a budget and spending plan. Figure out just exactly how much money you may need and for what. It’s also helpful to see if there’s any sort of debt forgiveness or restructuring you can do too. When you prepare like this, it shows your friends and family that you’re serious about using the money properly.
Set up terms
You shouldn’t treat getting financial support post-divorce from friends and family any differently than you would from other places. It can be easy to think that because you know each other, that it doesn’t need to be as serious. However, when money is involved, you want to make sure both sides know and understand what’s expected of the other.
In fact, even if they say they don’t want you to pay them back, it’s good to tell them you will. This creates some accountability on your end and ensures you’ll use the money to get yourself situation. Once you are, you can then pay them back, even if it was just a small amount they gave you.