Stappenplan voor als je gaat scheiden

Parenting plan

When you get divorced, you are required to make a parenting plan. This plan will contain all the agreements regarding the care of your children.

• Make a list for yourself of what you think are important agreements to record. What do your children need? Which agreements are in their best interest? Think about what you hope your children will think 20 years from now when they look back on the divorce.
• Ask the other parent to also make a list and put them side by side. What do you agree on and what do you think differently? Take the shared as a starting point to see where you can reach out to each other.

The house

Start by taking a list of wishes; Would you like to continue living in the home? How is that for the other parent? What would the children like? Find the balance in give and take. Stand up for yourself, but also give the other parent a reasonable perspective from which to move on.

Rental Property

• Agree on who can reasonably leave the home when. 
• Or jointly terminate the lease subject to the notice period at the time there is an alternative place to live for both.
• As a single person, you may now qualify for rent subsidies. Worth checking out! 

Buying House

• Notify the mortgage lender and bank in a timely manner and ask where they can help think about and support the choices to be made.
• Investigate financial options. Who could possibly buy out the other person by taking out an additional mortgage, for example?

When you are both going to leave the home, decide together as of when that is feasible and then put the home up for sale.

The inventory

Under what conditions, if any, did you become married or registered partners?

• When you are married in community of property, it is nice to come to a good division together.Kom elkaar tegemoet. Wees eerlijk over wat voor jou (emotionele) waarde heeft en geef die ruimte ook aan de ander.
• Make an overview ( possibly using stickers or post-its when walking through the home

Debts

Do you have any debts?

• Make a list of what you still owe to whom. Include in that overview what the interest is and how many installments of repayment remain, if that has been agreed upon.
• Communicate to each creditor that you are separating. Mention that a proposal will follow on how you plan to pay off the debt.
• Make a plan about how you want to pay off the debts. See what has priority. Debts on a (joint) credit card or revolving credit are often very expensive and add up quickly.
• Make each creditor a proposal for how you want to continue paying off the debt.
• Create a financial statement, keeping track of when what is paid off by whom.

The joint checking and savings account

• When will the last amount be collected from this account? Please note this in your calendar.
• Agree on who will raise the account and when. 

Collectively insured?

• Make a list of all the insurance policies you have taken out and find the policies to go with them.
• Differentiate between policies that must be cancelled and those that can be converted.
• Contact the insurance company to cancel or ask about the other
• This can also be a good time to compare what you pay at other insurance companies and what terms and conditions they work with. There are several comparison sites, e.g. independer.nl or www.poliswijzer.nl.

Discontinue joint subscriptions, memberships and other joint financial obligations

• Run through all subscriptions and memberships. Which ones are best to stop? Which ones do you or 1 of you want to keep?
• Cancel the subscriptions and memberships you don't want to keep.
• Arrange to have the subscription or membership that is retained in the correct name.

Benefits and allowances

Your situation will change and this will also affect benefits and allowances for which you may no longer be eligible.

• Make an overview: Consider rent allowance, healthcare allowance, childcare allowance, child budget.
• Look at the Tax Office's site. They have a separate page for people who are divorcing.
• Inform the Tax Office of your divorce.

Accumulated pension

It is tremendously nice if you manage to arrange things together and make agreements that you can both support. It is worth the effort. For children it is very nice if their parents can discuss things together and give something to the other parent. If tensions get too high and you feel you need support, you can contact a mediator or family lawyer for help with all of the above.