Divorce is a painful and sometimes awkward process which is taken when a marriage is no longer sustainable. When the marital relationship is no longer healthy the best step to take is divorce, this might help both husband and wife in the long run, as the benefits of it can't be realized immediately due to the many problems this process produces. A very common question which arises at the time of divorce is "What happens to my money?" or "How will the assets be divided?" there are several ways and methods to answer these questions, some of them are: -Mutual Agreement: If both, husband and wife arrive to a rational conclusion about the way the assets will be divided the legal process is much easier, if some of these assets such as furniture, tools, antiques can't be divided equally among both parties the most common action is to sell these belongings in order to acquire cash which can be split equally. - Mediators or Arbitrators: These are usually hired if the couple can't get to an agreement about the way the assets will be divided, often lawyers are hired to handle these cases as well. Some families may have easy to divide assets which don't require much effort to declare and identify during depositions and discovery procedures, however people who handle monetary and investment instruments such as retirement accounts, stocks, bonds, settlements, and such will obviously require expert advice in order to divide the assets equally. These family goods can often be exchanged for cash, however some carry taxes and fees which must also be accounted for at the time of divorce, the best way to claim these assets is to have a thorough list of all of them and hand it over to your attorney in order to claim them. Another good idea is to negotiate the tax exemption if you have children, this is often hard to do because of the implications so it is highly advisable to have your attorney handle this situation in order to make sure the tax exemption is not wasted by giving it to the parent with the most income. In both cases, with mutual agreement or arbitrators, it is always a good idea to have an attorney present in order to keep everything in order, the division of cash which may reside on joint checking and saving accounts is not very difficult, however when the family assets are more complex this process can't be left on the hands of inexpert negotiators.