Getting a divorce is not something that is usually completely planned out ahead of time. A lot of times it is something that is said in the heat of the moment, a thought that comes to your mind in a fit of anger or during a spat. These situations can be difficult when there are harsh feelings involved, which is why planning for your divorce is the best thing you can do. Planning is one of the ways that you can protect yourself throughout the divorce process, so you aren't blindsided.

Read on for a few things you should do to prepare for your divorce. 

Look Over All Bills

If you aren't informed about your debts, you may be blindsided when you see what you owe and what you are going to need to be responsible for after your divorce is finalized. You should be informed about these things anyway, but in a lot of cases, it's usually one-sided — one person takes care of all of the bills and the other person is oblivious to these things. If you are the latter, you need to become informed. Look through bank statements, checkbooks, online statements, and all of the bills coming into the household to see what is owed. Make calls if you need to in order to get balances and keep track of these things.

Check All Banking Information

In addition to checking out your debts, you should be aware of your assets as well. If either of you have retirement funds, savings accounts, CDs, investments, and anything else, you need to be aware of what you have in them and monitor them to see if anything is being removed from them. This is something that can occur during a divorce process — one person will attempt to hide money, so it's best to be aware of what was there to begin with to prevent this from happening to you.

Know Your Rights

Before you even attempt to get divorced, you should be aware of the rights within your state — what you are entitled to, what can happen, if there are children involved, you should know about custody, and how it all works. Don't allow yourself to be blindsided by rules or laws you weren't aware of; you should read up on these things and learn more about them before you make any rash decisions.

If you are considering getting a divorce, there are things you need to do in order to get your affairs in order prior to filing. Talk to a divorce attorney about your situation and get better informed beforehand to help make your divorce a smoother process and to better protect yourself.

Reach out to a local divorce lawyer to learn more.