Accountants offer some useful advice on how to protect yourself from financial ruin in a divorce.

Regardless of how financial accounts are titled, they may be marital assets or liabilities, subject to equitable distribution in the divorce.

But in the short term during the divorce case and before final judgment, accounts that are titled jointly pose special issues and challenges in relation to recourse options open to creditors and the other spouse.

Joint accounts also pose special issues and challenges in regard to which spouse has access to how much of the funds in the accounts and when.

How to best handle joint accounts during a divorce case really depends on the facts of the particular case.

But spouses should try to educate themselves on, among other things, how marital assets and liabilities are actually titled.

Beneficiary designations should be re-considered.

Provisions for children, especially minor children, should also be re-considered.

Read more in this St. Louis Post-Dispatch article: Protect yourself if you’re facing a divorce.