Especially in New York, where many are employed through unions, one of the most valuable assets in a divorce are the parties retirement accounts. Do you know that all retirement assets accrued during a marriage are split 50/50 upon divorce?
What breaks my heart the most is splitting those assets in a long-term marriage where the parties are almost at retirement age. Sometimes they even have to be split while already in payout status, which could drastically reduce someone's income. Couple that with obligations like spousal or child support and it can lead to complex litigation that you never saw coming!
If both people are accruing retirement benefits, no problem. But, for couples like my husband and I, only one of our employers offers 401K and annuities. That's why we had a conversation very early on about what we would do in the event of a divorce. If you can't agree, it's something that you may want to be memorialized in a prenuptial agreement. See the entire article here.