Although the divorce process can be mentally and emotionally draining, it is important to remember that you are in a rather vulnerable position and that you should immediately protect yourself, your children and your personal finances as the divorce carries on. It is incredibly important to take precaution and begin taking steps to guard your personal information and well-being.

Here are a few reasonable steps you should take to protect yourself and the important things around you:

If there are kids involved, make sure your spouse does not just take them if they are choosing to leave the family home. But if you are the one leaving, which in some cases is important to recognize that it may be best for everyone if you do so, you have to have a pre-planned agreement in regards to how much time each parent will have with the child. Although this agreement may not be the same as the one that will be in place after the custody battles are finished, it protects your relationship with your kids.

As soon as you know that you and your spouse are getting divorced, retain an attorney. Once it is clear that you and your soon-to-be-ex cannot settle outside of court, you will need a lawyer to represent you in court. Do not try to represent yourself in a divorce.

If you and your spouse have any joint credit card accounts, cancel them at once. Ideally, you should do this with both parties aware of the credit card cancellation, but you would rather cancel the card before they can charge substantial amounts of credit and leave you with the debt.

Cut down on spending. You may have now gone from a 2-person income family to now being completely dependent on yourself. Less money coming in means that less should be going out, especially since you don’t know how your finances will look when everything has been settled.

Last, but certainly not the least, if anything physical happens between you and your spouse in the realm of domestic violence, call the police immediately. You should definitely file a report, and perhaps even seek a restraining order because it may not be only you who is in harm’s way, but your children as well.