Poll: Split Tougher with No Cash

    Low-income families who are facing divorce are probably going to have a more difficult time with the process than those who make more money, according to financial analysts.

And because low-income couples have less money, they need to be even more careful about how to handle it during the split, said Linda Leitz, the founder of Pinnacle Financial Concepts, Inc.,and the author of "We Need to Talk: Money and Kids After Divorce." “The less money you have to divide, the more important it is to divide it right,” Leitz said.

The lower the income, the harder it is to find information about divorce, according to results from a poll conducted by GFK Roper Custom Research. Divorced Americans who made less than $50,000 were more likely to say that the one most difficult part of the divorce process was getting information.

The poll, commissioned by www.Divorce360.com, also showed that divorced Americans who made less than $50,000 per year were almost twice as likely to say that it was difficult to understand legal advice. The poll was conducted by phone in September 2007. More than 1,500 people participated in the study, and the margin of error is plus or minus 2.6 percent.            

To compound the difficulties, these are the people more likely to be divorcing. The probability of divorce is higher for those who make less money, according to statistics from the National Center for Health Statistics. A couple making less than $25,000 per year is more than twice as likely to divorce than a couple making more than $50,000 per year, according Cohabitation, Marriage, Divorce and Remarriage in the United States.

Low-income families have a tougher time finding information about navigating the divorce process because they are not going to pay to get professional guidance, Leitz said. For example, reputable, honest, talented attorneys in her area may not accept a case without a retainer in the neighborhood of $2,500, Leitz said.“So the ability to go in and get just enough information to know where to go, they may have to cough up a check for a retainer,” Leitz said.            

Most referrals to Leitz’s office, she said, come from referrals from other financial planners – a service a low-income family is less likely to employ.      

People often turn to their friends, colleagues or family members for referrals when they are trying to find help with their divorces, Leitz said. Low-income families’ peers are also not likely to be able to provide referrals because they are not paying for professional guidance, she said.   


PROCESS IS DIFFICULT              

Without that professional guidance, couples with less money are more likely to try to navigate the divorce process alone, which is a daunting task, said Barbara Shapiro, vice president of HMS Financial Group, and regional director of the Institute for Divorce Financial Analysts.  

“People with less money do have a great deal more difficulty getting divorced properly than wealthier couples,” Shapiro said. Shapiro is one of the first certified divorce financial analysts in Massachusetts.            

Low-income couples trying to find a way to divorce without professional help might lead to even more confusion because the forms they get from the court system can be confusing, and they would have no one to ask for advice or explanations, Shapiro said. Trying to pay for advice from an attorney might be financially impossible.            

Generally, it is easier for couples with higher incomes to get through the divorce process because there are more possibilities for making the finances work between the two people, Shapiro said. “The greater the number of assets the easier to come up with creative solutions because there are more pieces on the board to move about,” she said.