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Women poorer, men richer after divorce

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Pretoria - Women become poorer after a divorce, men become richer.

That’s what Professor Stephen Jenkins, a director of the Institute for Social and Economic Research and chair of the Council of the International Association for Research on Income and Wealth, found in a British survey a few years back.

The father’s available income rises by about a third, he said, while the mother’s drops by more than a fifth and stays that way for years.

The figures are unlikely to be much different in South Africa.

The richer section of society here operates on very similar dynamics, while the poorer may be even worse off than British women.

That’s why it’s so crucial to be clever and cautious when divorcing.

Some tips that will help:

Don’t forget to open new bank accounts in your own name.

Change your passwords for email and online accounts of any kind. You might have been sharing shopping accounts, for instance.

Include Facebook and other social media in this exercise – if things get nasty, you don’t want any snooping.

Don’t leave the marital home if you can help it.


First off, it’s better for the kids. Their lives are being turned upside down anyway. If they can go on living in the same rooms and the same neighbourhood, they’ll feel a little more safe and stable.

While in theory it should not make any difference to the final settlement, in practice, being in possession of the home and common family assets like appliances does give you some leverage.

Think ahead when it comes to life assurance.


If your husband has an existing life policy, you may think this will protect you and provide for the children’s education and other needs if he should die.

You should, however, make sure you are not just the beneficiary of the policy, but the owner thereof.

If you are the beneficiary, your husband could change the beneficiary in the future - for example, if he meets and gets involved with someone new. This could also apply to endowment policies.

The splitting of assets


When you are discussing the splitting of assets, it’s likely that the idea of selling the house and other valuable assets will be mooted.

You need to think carefully about this. If any assets are very valuable, their sale may trigger capital gains tax and nobody wins if some of the profit has to be paid in tax.

Consider negotiating who gets what and transferring ownership instead.

Retirement savings

If your husband has retirement savings and you are entitled to a share thereof, think about moving those funds to your own retirement fund instead of cashing it (if you can afford to do so) as this is tax-free.

Divorcing couples with a lot of assets or complicated finances might do well to consult a financial planner and/or a tax advisor as well as an attorney.

- Fin24

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