Preparing For A Divorce

Organizing your finances can help you prepare for a divorce.

When people in Charlotte consider divorce, some of the most important issues that can arise at end of a marriage relate to finances. Preparing one’s own finances can help a person prepare for the divorce process. One of the first and most important steps can be getting key financial documents in order. During a divorce, a person will need copies of all of their major paperwork, from tax returns to bank statements and investment account reports.

It can also be key to perform a credit check when planning to file for divorce. During a marriage, both partners’ credit can become distinctly intertwined. After divorce, however, having a good individual credit rating will be critical for one’s ability to buy a home, obtain a loan or even get the best rates for auto insurance. By requesting a copy of their credit report, spouses can check for errors and have them corrected before needing to rely on their individual credit.

In addition, getting one’s own bank accounts and credit cards can help to prepare for the post-divorce era. People should open their accounts at a different bank in their name only. This is not a means of hiding marital assets during the divorce but a way to be prepared to start fresh after the divorce is over. Taxes can also be affected by divorce: After the divorce is finalized, each former spouse will need to file taxes as a single person, and changes in one’s income structure will also be reflected in the tax return.

When considering divorce, seeking professional assistance may be an important step. A family law attorney may provide advice on the key financial and other issues involved in the divorce, including asset division and spousal support. A lawyer might also connect a divorcing spouse with financial professionals to provide advice.

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Family Needs & Visitation Schedules

Family Needs & Visitation Schedules

Visitation Schedules Can Meet Family Needs

Divorcing parents in Charlotte may wonder how to best set up a child custody or visitation schedule that meets the needs of both parents and the children. While child custody may be one of the most contentious issues handled in the divorce, a clear parenting plan can help to ease the road ahead for the entire family. There are some particularly common arrangements for visitation, but in all cases, the particular needs of the family involved are the most important, especially when work schedules are complex or non-traditional.

Parents going through a divorce may be directed by the court to develop a parenting plan in order to implement child custody decisions. A visitation schedule is used when one parent has primary custody of the child; the time spent with the non-custodial parent is considered visitation.

One of the most common visitation schedule has the child spend every other weekend at the non-custodial parent’s home. In most cases, this time could begin on Friday evening after school and end on Sunday evening. This kind of schedule can work best for parents with a typical Monday-through-Friday work schedule and can also accommodate former spouses who live some distance apart from one another. Other options can be considered to meet the needs of changing work schedules or when the parents live close to one another. For example, additional weeknight visits could be added, or visitation could take place on weekdays rather than weekends.

Parents who are going through divorce may initially find that navigating the framework of child custody and visitation can be confusing and emotional. A family law attorney may provide advice and representation throughout the process to help a divorcing parent protect their relationship with their children and achieve a fair settlement on an array of divorce matters, including child custody, spousal support and property division.

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Shifting Roles And Divorce

Shifting Roles Can Lead To Divorce

Shifting Roles Can Lead To Divorce

North Carolina couples might find themselves beginning their married lives while falling into traditional roles of the husband as primary breadwinner and the wife as the caretaker of home and family. However, this dynamic might change over time, particularly as the wife’s career develops and she begins to earn more, which can lead to tension in the relationship.

According to experts, the tension that arises when couples begin to experience shifting roles is often a result of the difficulty husbands have with giving up these traditional roles. A Swedish study found that couples who began their relationship with traditional gender roles but shifted over time had a higher chance of experiencing a divorce than couples who were in more gender-equal relationships from the beginning. The way people react to the changes can contribute to what happens in a relationship. In many cases, a husband who had previously considered himself the primary breadwinner might act defensively against a wife who began to earn more, trying to control every aspect of her life. In other cases, the husband might opt to work less but still expect the wife to continue with the greater responsibility of the family and home-related duties.

To attempt to prevent rising tensions and even the possibility of divorce, experts recommend discussing career and family expectations, even before marriage, to set the stage for a more gender-equal relationship that might better sustain later shifting dynamics. Experts also suggest having open and honest conversations about needs, particularly when those needs change due to outside factors such as more responsibility at work.

Couples who cannot overcome the changes might choose to end their marriage. In those cases, each spouse may contact a lawyer with family law experience to help explain the person’s options, assist them through the process and represent them legally.

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Child Support Impacts Fathers

Film Examines Child Support System’s Impact On Fathers

Film Examines Child Support System’s Impact On Fathers

Charlotte fathers dealing with the child support and custody system after divorce can face difficulties, especially those confronting poverty and social racism. A study by the Urban Institute noted that 70 percent of all child support debt in the United States originates from individuals who have no reported income or make less than $10,000 a year. This means that many stereotypes about deadbeat fathers may be false. The inability to pay may rank far higher as a cause of child support debt than an unwillingness to do so.

Stereotypes about the child support system after divorce can be particularly damaging to African American fathers, according to the director of a documentary that explores the relationship between child support orders, family courts and African American fathers. “Where’s Daddy?” looks at the relationship between the child support system and African American families, including the negative role that child support enforcement can play. The director noted that black men are often portrayed in media as uncaring fathers who are behind on their child support payments, leading to negative beliefs about the role of African American fathers.

The film interviews fathers, mothers and attorneys about the child support system and its impact on children. It also explores the spiraling results that can follow after fathers go to family court unprepared and unrepresented. This is a particular concern for people in poverty who cannot afford legal counsel. The effects can escalate after fathers who cannot meet their child support obligations face jail time, job loss or other consequences.

Legal representation can be critical for fathers going through a divorce or negotiating the child support and custody system as single dads. A family law attorney can help a father seek child custody or modify a child support order in light of the loss of his job or a change to his employment situation.

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Using Investments For Alimony

Planning For Alimony Using Investments

Planning For Alimony Using Investments

Some big changes are coming to the way spousal support is taxed thanks to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. For divorce and separation agreements executed in 2019 and beyond, North Carolina recipients will receive alimony tax free while payers will no longer be allowed to deduct payments. This reverses the current taxation standard for alimony that’s been in place for more than 70 years. Divorces completed before 2019 will not be affected.

While the change in the law will lower the amount of alimony paid to recipients in some scenarios, it does provide some advantages to couples who plan ahead using tax-deferred IRAs and 401(k)s. Alimony recipients may have less ability to create tax-sheltered savings themselves, but they can receive account balances through settlements. By circumventing traditional cash payments, a lot of tax saving opportunities can be realized.

This type of arrangement is designed to benefit both parties. The payer of alimony is able to transfer assets to the recipient pre-tax and will never have to pay taxes on the withdrawal. The recipient can then withdrawal from this account at a lower tax rate, effectively reversing the change that was made to the tax code. Recipients who need to take out money from an account too early may be subject to penalties.

Both parties in a divorce case are advised to get representation from an attorney regardless of any alimony planning that took place in the past. In many divorces, previous financial arrangements get ignored for various reasons. It’s the responsibility of an attorney to protect the financial interests of their client whether they are the giver or receiver of alimony.

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More Women Are Paying Alimony

Why An Increasing Number Of Women Are Paying Alimony

Why An Increasing Number Of Women Are Paying Alimony

Lawyers across the country have noted a surge in the number of women being ordered to pay alimony and child support to their former partners. As the number of female breadwinners and male stay-at-home parents rise in North Carolina, there has been a concomitant increase in ex-husbands receiving support payments.

In a survey conducted by the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, 45 percent of divorce lawyers noted that they had seen a rise in the number of ex-wives paying alimony since 2014. In addition, 54 percent of the surveyed lawyers said that they had seen a rise in mothers paying child support during that same period.

Traditionally, the male partner has been responsible for support payments after a divorce. This reflected the financial imbalance of most relationships across the country. However, this is changing alongside developments in the economic situation of many women professionals.

In 40 percent of American families, women are the primary breadwinners. In some circumstances, however, their husbands are also significant financial contributors and neither partner would be likely to receive spousal support. In 2010, only around 3 percent of the 400,000 people across the country receiving spousal support were male. However, the AAML study indicates that this percentage has likely shifted upward.

Depending on the exact circumstances of the divorce, spousal support may not be awarded on a permanent basis. A family law attorney can work with a divorcing spouse to pursue a fair settlement that respects their contributions to the marriage in terms of asset division, alimony and other matters.

 

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Obtaining A Good Divorce Settlement

How To Obtain A Quality Divorce Settlement

How To Obtain A Quality Divorce Settlement

North Carolina residents and others who choose to get a divorce may not focus enough on their future needs. Instead, they craft settlements based on their current salary or desire to maintain the status quo in their lives. However, it is possible that many could lose a job or find themselves unable to maintain the family home on their own at some point after a marriage ends.

Individuals who are getting divorced should learn to embrace the details that come with negotiating a settlement. While ignoring the details may be easier in some cases, it could result in not obtaining financial or other support needed to live after the marriage is over. It could also make it harder to track child support or other payments as they come in. Ideally, all expenses and payments made should be tracked and recorded in an organized manner.

Creating a prenuptial agreement can be an effective way to avoid costly mistakes related to divorce. They can be even more helpful to those who get married again as the divorce rate for those married for the second time is higher than those still in their first marriages. In addition to a prenuptial agreement, it could be worthwhile to make changes to an estate plan prior to getting married again.

While the end of a marriage may be an emotional time, it is in a person’s best interest to settle a divorce in a rational way. Hiring an attorney may make it easier to accomplish that goal. An attorney can review a case from a factual perspective in an effort to obtain a favorable settlement for a client. In some cases, this may be done through mediation as opposed to asking a judge to make a ruling.

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Beneficiary Designations In Divorce

The Importance Of Beneficiary Designations In Divorce

 

People in Charlotte who get a divorce should make sure they take their ex-spouse off beneficiary designations in a divorce even if the divorce decree says that those assets do not belong to the former spouse. If a spouse receives a payment from a beneficiary designation after agreeing in a divorce decree not to take that property, it might be possible to get the assets back, but the battle could be a long and costly one.

This was the case when a man failed to remove his uncle as beneficiary on his life insurance account even though his daughter was supposed to receive the payment in the divorce decree. A federal judge and a court of appeals upheld the divorce decree.

In another case, a man’s father did not leave a will despite a promise to take care of him and his older disabled brother. The father did not change the beneficiary on his life insurance account when he got a divorce, and when he died, his ex-wife took the payment even though she had agreed in the divorce decree that it belonged to him. The son was struggling to even locate the ex-wife. While it was possible to pursue a lawsuit in this situation, there were several difficulties including the potential cost, the difficulty of finding the ex-spouse and the possibility that she had already spent the money.

It may not be legal to remove a spouse from a beneficiary designation if the divorce is not yet final, so people should check with an attorney before doing this or taking any other actions with joint assets. During the divorce process, people need to be open about their assets and debts. A person who suspects a spouse of hiding assets may want to talk to an attorney about the possibility and what steps to take.

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Why Get A Prenuptial Agreement

Why some couples might want a prenuptial agreement

Before getting married, soon-to-be spouses in Charlotte might want to consider the benefits of getting a prenuptial agreement. Despite its negative reputation, a prenup can actually open the lines of communication for a couple. For a prenup to be valid, both people must get legal counsel, and neither may conceal any financial assets.

A prenup can be particularly important for someone who owns a business, has a blended family or is getting married for the second time. The documents can protect the business from the other partner if the couple gets divorced. It can also protect any other assets either person is bringing into the marriage. Furthermore, the prenup may specify that neither spouse is responsible for the debts of the other spouse if the two get a divorce.

Some couples may be concerned about alimony if one makes more money than the other. However, the prenup can address this as well. This might be particularly important if one spouse has been the stay-at-home parent. Since it can be difficult to reenter the workforce after years away, the parent may want assurance that spousal support will be available.

A prenuptial agreement is not airtight. One partner may challenge the documents if they were rushed into or seem unfair. That’s why it’s important to work with a lawyer before signing a prenuptial agreement. Legal counsel could make sure that the terms of the prenup will stand up in court. Ultimately, a thoroughly negotiated prenup could be advantageous to both parties in a divorce.

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Divorce Settlements

Crafting a divorce settlement later in life

Crafting a divorce settlement later in life

Those who divorce at an older age generally don’t argue over child custody or child support matters. Instead, the primary issue is how to divide assets in an equitable manner. Specifically, most older couples tend to spend most of their time determining how to divide a retirement account such as an IRA or 401(k). In some divorce cases, a couple may choose to divide the money in the account 50/50.

However, this isn’t necessarily the best way to do it. Even if assets are split evenly, it must be done in accordance with a divorce decree. For a qualified plan such as a pension or 401(k), the split must be done in accordance with a qualified domestic relations order. Such an order allows for money to be transferred from one account to another without any tax consequences. If money is removed from an account, an individual avoids the 10 percent early withdrawal penalty if it applies.

Those who need to divide annuities in a divorce should do their best to avoid cashing out early as it can significantly reduce their value. Regardless of what types of assets a person needs to divide in a divorce, the end of a marriage will come with financial consequences. This is because two people are now trying to live separate lives on a single income.

An attorney may be helpful when it comes to helping a person understand divorce legal issues such as dividing property. Generally speaking, everything that was acquired during the marriage may be eligible to be divided in a settlement. Legal counsel may be able to take steps to help a person obtain as much marital property as possible.

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