Missouri divorce law attempts to treat the genders equally and without favoritism. However, societal practices and long-held cultural values seem to leave an indelible mark that favors men over women. According to several reports, there is a gender-gap in financial matters between men and women during a separation and a divorce.
A UBS Global Wealth Management survey recently revealed that twice as many men as women felt that they were financially informed and confident enough to make long-term financial decisions. Bloomberg has reported that about 61 percent of millennial women leave the investment decisions to their husbands. Some 54 percent of baby boomer women said the same thing. In addition, about 75 percent of women said they didn’t know much about investing.
The impact of these figures points to a lopsided advantage for men during separation and divorce proceedings. Women have a natural tendency to abdicate financial points to the husband’s perspective, thus impacting the woman negatively after the divorce is over. Most women who have been through the process say that they regret not having taken a more aggressive, involved approach to marital finances and planning.
Most of those women also freely pass on a word of advice to other women: get more active in your marital finances. With financial abdication to the husband, the result is that he will be in a superior position at the time of a separation. He may seize control of financial documents and make changes for his own benefit.
In addition, during or after the divorce the wife may discover that the husband engaged in secret spending and set up secret accounts. Sometimes, a reservoir of hidden debt is discovered. Those kinds of crippling factors would be nearly eliminated where both spouses share equally in all financial matters between them. It is granted that it works both ways, but generally in Missouri and other states the advantage has been in favor of men.
Source: divorcecourt.com, “Many Women Leave Financial Decisions To Husbands, Leaving Them Vulnerable”, April 16, 2018
