Couples proceeding with a divorce are usually obliged to place a reasonable deposit with the attorney handling the divorce, for disbursements and fees. Failing this, a person may not be able to secure an attorney to protect his/her rights. If statistics can be believed, more than half of all marriages end in divorce. Married couples should set aside funds each month in an emergency fund. This is not for the purpose of encouraging divorce, but is rather a measure to empower parties to take control of their lives in case of a life-changing event, such as divorce. Even a person who is not working should be encouraged to use some of the housekeeping money for this necessary provision. During divorce proceedings, a nest egg can also prove useful to provide for household expenses, which must be paid while interim maintenance issues are resolved.

Marriage partners should be encouraged to take an interest in each other's financial affairs. Marriage is a partnership where one's financial rights and obligations are intertwined. Often, wives leave the financial decisions and control to the husband, without taking any interest in or responsibility for this area. This has often been to the detriment of the homemaker spouse who, on divorce, finds that her spouse has "disposed" of many of the assets of the marriage while she was not looking. Even in successful marriages, one cannot assume that a spouse is making the right decisions for the couple's joint future unless each party participates in making those decisions.

On divorce, the children will usually remain on the breadwinner's medical scheme, but the other spouse may not be eligible to remain on that scheme. One of the first steps which must be taken on divorce is for the homemaker spouse to become a member of an appropriate medical scheme or at least to take out suitable medical insurance.

If there are dependent children, and the homemaker spouse is the custodian parent, the divorce settlement will usually include an order for the breadwinner to pay maintenance for the children. This order is usually made binding on his deceased estate. But, he may remarry and there may be competing claims for maintenance against his estate by children of a subsequent marriage. It is wise to implement the cession of an existing or a new policy to the custodian spouse or the children, to secure the maintenance claim in the event of untimely death or disability. This should be large enough to cover the ancillary expenses often listed in divorce agreements, namely cost of school fees, uniforms, books, extramural activities, medical aid contributions, tertiary education expenses etc. A ceded life policy will enjoy some protection from creditors on insolvency, should this arise.

If possible, the custodian spouse should also insure his/her life for the contribution that is made towards the maintenance of the children, which is often undervalued in monetary terms.

An education policy, with proposer's risk attached, is another useful tool which can be recommended for inclusion in a divorce agreement. Often, one or both of the parties undertake the obligation to finance the children's tertiary education expenses without making financial provision for this obligation.

Permanent maintenance is an unlikely award, unless a spouse is unemployable and unable to support him/herself, taking into account his/her current skills, time away from the workplace, length of marriage and age at divorce. Sometimes spouses will be awarded rehabilitative maintenance to tide them over until they are able to brush up on skills for the workplace. They may be awarded lump sums in the division of the assets of the marriage, payable in one or more instalments. 

A financial planner can assist in the appropriate investment of a lump sum by making use of a needs analysis. This should include a risk analysis and should take into account current and future income needs, retirement planning, parental obligations and need for capital growth.

If either party is a member of a retirement fund, the "pension interest" as defined, is deemed to be part of the assets of that spouse on divorce. If a spouse is entitled to claim part of the value of the pension interest, it is preferable for the claimant to have it paid over immediately on divorce or in instalments. Failing this, an endorsement will have to be made to the records of the fund, for the fund to pay the amount over to the non-member spouse when the benefit accrues to the member. Unfortunately, the non-member earns no future growth on those funds. In addition, any tax liability which the member pays on exiting the fund, is recoverable from the non-member by the member. Therefore, the divorce agreement should ideally take into account the member's right of tax recovery upfront when determining the claim. If the claim will only be paid well into the future, it is advisable to include an obligation for interest to be paid to the non-member in the divorce agreement until the claim is paid. Failing this, the claim will depreciate in value.

The non-member spouse should be encouraged to invest the claim against the pension interest, in whatever form and whenever it is paid, in an appropriate investment earmarked for retirement. 

The non-member spouse is encouraged to take responsibility for his/her own retirement planning after divorce, if this aspect was neglected during the marriage.

The homemaker spouse is reminded to take care of all short term insurance needs, if these were previously taken care of by the breadwinner.