Divorce is a major life-altering event, but there are steps you can take to help ease the transition from married to single, especially when it comes to your financial affairs. Between your decision to call it quits and the final divorce petition comes a time that is too valuable to be wasted. Read on to learn about some actions you can take during your separation period by utilizing a legal separation agreement.

Debt Liability. If you are like most couples, you both have at least some credit card debt. Some may belong to you, some may belong to your spouse, and some may be owned by both of you, but it will all have to be addressed in the divorce agreement when debt is divided and assigned. While debt that is in each of your names only is a lot more easily divided, debt that is held jointly can present some potentially contentious issues. Joint credit card debt is often simply split down the middle, but doing so could create a financial disaster if your spouse uses the separation period to run up big bills on the joint credit card. A legal separation agreement provides the perfect solution to ensuring that the joint debt that accrued pre-separation is kept in a different bucket from the separation period debt.

Plan Ahead for Retirement. No matter how far you are from retirement age, it pays to think ahead in the case of divorce. The Social Security Administration (SSA) provides a valuable resource for divorced spouses: the ability to receive one-half of their former spouse's Social Security monthly payment upon full retirement age. If your spouse made more money than you, they will have a larger retirement payment each month. In some cases, the one-half monthly benefit from the ex-spouse will exceed your own full amount, which can help boost your retirement income considerably.

The catch? You must have been married to your ex for at least 10 years to qualify for this type of Social Security retirement benefit. If you are anywhere near the 10-year-mark with your marriage, it could really benefit you to hang on for a few more months. A legal separation agreement can help you deal with many of the issues that will be eventually be codified in the final divorce decree.

What else to know about this benefit:

• The Social Security Administration will automatically calculate your highest benefit option, you need not do anything other than listing your former marriage on your application for benefits. In fact, even if you cannot recall your former spouse's Social Security number, the SSA will locate it for you.
• Your former spouse need not take any action, and they may not even be aware of the benefit going to you, unless you inform them.
• The benefit amount for your former spouse is not affected, nor is the spousal benefit of anyone they remarry.
• The benefit amount is not affected by your former spouse's remarriage, but remarrying yourself will invalidate it. If you divorce, however, you can once again reap the benefit.

To read more about these and other benefits of using a legal separation agreement or if you have questions, discuss the issue with your divorce attorney.