What not to forget in a divorce settlement.

If you are heading into a divorce, the settlement is not just paperwork. It is the financial blueprint for the next decade of your life. What you forget to address now is very hard and sometimes impossible to fix later.

Below is the checklist I walk clients through before they sign.

1. Do not treat “property and debt” as a single line item

Your final orders must cover a full division of everything you own and everything you owe, not just the big headline items.

Make sure your settlement:

• Lists all assets and debts specifically.
• States exactly who keeps or pays what.
• Spells out how and when any transfer or payoff will occur.

In Washington the court can divide both community and separate property, and it will look at the entire picture when deciding whether your deal is fair. Once your decree is entered, property division is very hard to reopen, so vagueness is your enemy.

2. Address the house in detail, not just “you keep it”

For many families the home is the largest asset and the biggest source of risk if handled poorly.

Your settlement should answer all of these clearly:

• Are you selling the home or is one of you keeping it.
• If you are selling, who controls the listing, price changes, showings and what happens if it does not sell by a certain date.
• If one spouse keeps it, will there be a refinance, by what deadline, and what happens if they cannot qualify.
• Who gets mortgage interest and property tax deductions for the year of divorce and any sale gains or losses.

If title ends up in one name and the mortgage stays in both names, the “non‑owner” can still be chased by the lender for missed payments. Your decree should either require a refinance or sale within a set time, and it should say what happens if that does not occur.

3. Do not overlook retirement accounts and pensions

Retirement is easy to ignore when you are worried about today’s bills, but it is usually one of the most valuable things on the table.

Key points to build into the settlement:

• Identify each account 401(k), IRA, pension, military retirement, governmental plans and specify the percentage or dollar amount each spouse will receive.
• Decide on a valuation date for dividing the account and how market gains or losses between that date and the actual split will be handled.
• Provide for preparation of any Qualified Domestic Relations Order (QDRO) or similar order, who will draft it, who pays for it, and when it must be submitted to the plan administrator.

If your orders award you part of a retirement but you never follow through with a QDRO or required plan forms, you may never see that money. It is far better to have the QDRO drafted and approved by the plan as close in time to the decree as possible.

4. Be very specific with parenting plans and child support

If you have children, your settlement is not complete until it covers both parenting arrangements and support in enough detail that you are not constantly back in court.

Parenting plan items you should not omit:

• A weekday and weekend schedule that works during the school year and summer.
• Clear holiday and vacation provisions, including travel outside the area and passport control.
• How major decisions about schooling, medical care, and activities are made and what happens if you do not agree.

For child support, your orders should:

• Set the basic monthly support amount based on the Washington State Child Support Schedule and each parent’s income.
• Allocate uninsured health costs, daycare, extracurricular activities, and college or trade school support if appropriate, not just “we will split extras later.”
• Say who can claim each child as a tax dependent and in which years, since exemptions and credits can be negotiated as part of the overall deal.

Child support is modifiable in the future, but you are still living with the initial structure while you wait and that can be a long time.

5. Do not forget about spousal maintenance and the tax angle

Whether you expect to receive or pay support, leaving the issue out can be a costly mistake.

Your agreement should spell out:

• Whether there will be maintenance at all.
• The exact monthly amount and start date.
• When it ends a fixed date, remarriage of the recipient, death, or some combination.
• Whether it will be modifiable or non‑modifiable (in Washington, maintenance is normally modifiable by the court later, but you can agree otherwise in a written contract).

Tax treatment matters. Maintenance and property transfers are treated differently for federal tax purposes, and the classification can change your real bottom line. Make sure you and your lawyer talk through how each option will affect your after‑tax income.

6. Plan for taxes before you sign, not next April

Divorce and taxes interact in more ways than most people expect. A good settlement anticipates those issues in advance.

Topics to cover:

• Filing status for the year of divorce and whether you will file jointly or separately, including how you share any refund or liability if you file together.
• Who will claim which children, for which years, and how you will handle any tax forms needed for a parent who does not have primary residence to claim a child.
• Who bears any capital gains tax if you sell the house, a rental, or other investments as part of the settlement.
• How you will handle any future tax audits related to years you filed together.

Because joint returns create joint responsibility for whatever is on that return, you should not sign a joint tax return with someone you are divorcing without reviewing it carefully or getting independent tax advice.

7. Put clear debt protections in place

Your decree can allocate debts between you and your spouse, but it does not bind outside creditors. If your ex stops paying, the bank or credit card company can still come after you if you are on the account.

Your settlement should:

• List every debt, including credit cards, personal loans, lines of credit, medical bills, tax debts, and student loans.
• Assign each debt to one spouse or the other.
• Include “hold harmless” language so that if you have to pay a debt that was assigned to your ex, you can sue them to be reimbursed and ask for your attorney’s fees in that lawsuit.
• Require closure or conversion of joint accounts and set deadlines to provide proof that has been done.

If bankruptcy is a possibility for either spouse, that needs to be factored into your strategy before you finalize the settlement, not afterward.

8. Do not ignore insurance and beneficiary changes

This is one of the most common blind spots I see.

Before and immediately after your divorce, you should deal with:

• Health insurance: Will one spouse keep the other on a work plan through COBRA, and for how long, and who pays the premium.
• Life insurance: If support or child support will be paid over time, are there life policies to secure those obligations, and who must be named as beneficiary.
• Auto, homeowners, and umbrella policies: When and how will policies be split or rewritten so you are no longer tied together.
• Beneficiaries on retirement accounts, life insurance, and payable‑on‑death accounts, consistent with any obligations in the decree.

A settlement can require each party to maintain certain coverage and to provide regular proof that it is in place, which can be very protective if someone dies unexpectedly or stops paying support.

9. Capture the “little things” that cause big conflict

The messy disputes after divorce are rarely about the sweeping issues. They are often about the things the decree did not mention.

Run through these practical points:

• Personal property: How are household items, furniture, artwork, and sentimental belongings divided and by what date.
• Digital assets: Photos, videos, cloud storage, social media accounts, and subscription services.
• Pets: Who keeps them, who pays vet bills, and whether there will be any shared schedule.
• Future college costs: At least a framework for how you will decide on schools, applications, and payment and whether either parent will be ordered to contribute to post‑secondary education.
• Dispute resolution: Will you mediate future disagreements before running back to court, especially for parenting disputes.

Put timelines in writing. If the agreement says “we will divide the furniture later” you are inviting friction.

10. Think beyond the decree: your post‑divorce checklist

A strong settlement sets you up to succeed, but you still have work to do after the judge signs.

As soon as reasonably possible:

• Update your will, powers of attorney, and any other estate planning documents so your ex is not still in charge of your medical or financial life.
• Retitle vehicles and real estate as required by the decree and file any deeds that transfer interests in property.
• Close joint bank and credit accounts and open your own accounts if you have not already.
• Follow through on retirement divisions, QDROs, and insurance changes.

Courts and Washington practice materials stress that once property division is final, it usually cannot be changed, so treating this as a one‑time legal project is wise. Your goal is a settlement that you can live with, and live on, not something that sends you back to court every year.

If you had to pick one area of your settlement to focus on first, would it be the house, the parenting plan, the retirement division, or support and taxes.

If you’d like to discuss a divorce settlement, you can schedule a consultation by giving us a call at 206-782-6200.