Shaw-Anderson offices of Birmingham, Alabama
Shaw-Anderson Firm Website

2924 Crescent Avenue
Birmingham, Alabama 35209
Phone (205) 871-9550
FAX (205) 871-9549

Foreword from Saving Your Assets
by Stewart H. Welch, III, one of America's top 150 financial planners

"Divorce happens to approximately half the marriages in America, resulting in a financial and emotional "ripple effect" that can be felt for years, even generations."People often describe the experience as worse than living through the death of someone you love. It is a situation that is typically charged with emotion, with significant financial issues at stake. Emotion often helps to drive the financial issues as spouses attempt to grab assets and inflict pain on their soon-to-be ex-husbands or wives. All too often, the result is fewer assets to be divided among the divorcing spouses."If you are contemplating a divorce, carefully think through the ramifications to you, your family and your finances. If children are involved, this decision becomes that much more critical. If you have made a decision to get a divorce, take appropriate steps to make sure you end up with the best agreement possible. To obtain this result, you need to develop a "success" mindset where you think of your personal finances as a business and your divorce as the biggest business transaction of your life (it very well may be!). "It is counterproductive to allow yourself to be drawn into emotional arguments and confrontations that are likely to be costly, both financially and emotionally. Know what you want to happen or what kind of financial arrangement you need. This requires that you do a fair amount of homework. You may want to seek the help of a professional financial advisor. Here's a short list of subject matter to get you started."Monthly expenses. You need to do a post-divorce budget. Draw up a list of how your expenses will be different once your divorce is final. Expenses such as housing and utilities will probably be duplicated. Divide your expenses into non-discretionary and discretionary. This will give a good feel for what your income requirements will be. "Retirement analysis. While you may be focused on your immediate needs, don't overlook the critical long-term issues of retirement. Retirement planning requires complex analysis and multiple assumptions. If you and your spouse have investments in both retirement plans and personal investment plans, would you be better off receiving one or the other in the divorce settlement? What are the tax ramifications of accepting one asset over another?"Debts. Complete a detailed inventory of all family debts, including balances, interest rates, monthly payments and whose name each debt is in. Take precautions to insure that no new debt is incurred before finalizing your divorce. This will often require legal intervention from your lawyer. You want to protect your credit standing, particularly if you have not built a strong credit history on your own. Order your credit report from the credit bureau to determine your current standing."Children's issues. If you have children, pay particular attention to financial issues, especially any future expenses. Parents often underestimate the costs associated with raising children. Review your bank and credit card statements to estimate what you will spend on your children annually. Take into account fees for after-school activities, camp or braces. If you have a teen, do you provide a car or other big-ticket items? And don't forget about college. The cost of putting a child through the University of Alabama or Auburn can run $10,000 per year or more. Are you thinking about private college? Count on spending $30,000 per year or more. That is just in today's dollars. While general inflation has been very low over the past few years, the costs of funding a college education have been rising at 6% per year. "Asset inventory. You should prepare a detailed inventory of all your family's assets. For financial assets, be sure to include account numbers and the location of accounts as well as account balances. List all items of personal property. Ultimately, these assets will be divided by you or the court as part of the divorce settlement. You should think about which assets are most important to your ultimate financial security into the future. Do you prefer the house or a larger share of the retirement accounts? "Once you complete this exercise, review your needs in light of the family's current financial circumstances. Are your needs realistically going to be agreed upon by either your spouse or the courts? You are likely to find that significant financial adjustments will be necessary. By developing a thorough divorce settlement agreement, you can reduce the likelihood of going back to court in later years, an exercise which is both unpleasant and expensive. These are just a few of the financial issues. In addition there is an array of non-financial issues you will need to deal with. As you can see, divorce is a complicated emotional and financial event. Once you have determined that divorce is your only course of action, one of the best moves you can make is to hire a lawyer who specializes in divorce work. Paul Shaw gives you the behind-the-scenes details on how to find and work effectively with a divorce attorney. They cover both the financial aspects as well as the emotional aspects of completing a successful divorce."

-- Stewart H. Welch, III

Stewart H. Welch, III, is founder of The Welch Group, LLC, a fee-only wealth management firm in Birmingham, Alabama. He is the author of two books and co-author of "J.K. Lasser's New Rules for Estate Planning and Taxes" (John Wiley & Sons, Inc.) In addition, he is a financial columnist for The Birmingham Post Herald and contributing editor to Physician's Money Digest. He has been named by Money, Worth, Medical Economics, Bloomberg Wealth Manager and Mutual Funds Magazine as one of the top financial advisors in America. 

About the Co-Author Paul B. Shaw, Jr., is recognized as a leader in the area of divorce and family law, having been named by Birmingham Magazine as one of the top five divorce lawyers in Birmingham. Paul was also selected as a "Super Lawyer" by Business Alabama magazine.

Paul maintains a thriving civil litigation practice with concentration in matrimonial law. His experience in business litigation proves helpful in family law cases involving family-owned businesses, large marital estates or complex property arrangements and other intricate business relationships. Mr. Shaw displayed his divorce and financial expertise as co-author of the top-selling book on Alabama divorce, Saving Your Assets When You Can't Save Your Marriage, published in 2002.Paul recognizes that the emotional and financial aspects of divorce and child custody are intertwined. He strives to successfully settle those cases which can be resolved and aggressively litigate those that must be taken to trial.

A native of Birmingham, Mr. Shaw is a graduate of Auburn University and the University of Alabama School of Law. He is a member of both the Alabama and Mississippi State Bars and has served in various roles with the Family Law Section of the Alabama Bar and the Domestic Courts. Paul began his legal career as a litigation attorney with the Mobile-based firm of Crosby, Saad, Beebe, Cavender and Crump prior to the formation of Shaw-Anderson, LLC.

Paul is an active contributor of time and support to various community and charitable organizations and was honored in 1999 by selection to the Birmingham Business Journal's "Top 40 Under 40", a listing of the most outstanding young civic and business leaders. He is married with two children and is a member of Liberty Crossings United Methodist Church.