Mental Illness and Protecting Your Child in Divorce
Divorce creates conflict for children that parents must address in order avoid or minimize any lasting negative effects. Promoting a safe place for children to talk about their fears and concerns surrounding divorce is an important part of that effort, but when part or the primary reason for the end of the marriage is mental...
Navigating Child Custody Conflict Post-Divorce
Sharing custody of a child will inherently produce strife at some point. Working through child custody issues during the divorce process is hard enough, but the real work starts when parents are forced to figure out how to negotiate child exchanges and important life decisions on a regular basis. Studies have repeatedly shown that children...
How Dissipating Assets can Cost You in Divorce
No one likes to relinquish rights over property he or she worked to obtain and maintain, but divorce comes with the expectation that spouses will divide assets and liabilities in roughly equal proportions. This fact can be hard to accept if one spouse was the main or sole income contributor and thus, primarily responsible for...
Fighting a Petition to Modify Child Support
Raising a child is not an easy or cheap endeavor, and when parents divorce or separate, without the payment of child support, the financial strain would likely be a detriment to the child’s well-being. The initial amount set for child support is based upon a snapshot of the parents’ income and the child’s needs at...
The Basics of Child Support Collection, Enforcement, and Termination
Child support is an obligation all parents share, but this responsibility is directly enforced by the state when a parent divorces, becomes legally separated, or paternity is established. While this money is integral to the child’s well-being, it is also a point of frequent contention between parents, as each side views the amount paid and...
Does a Cheating Spouse Affect a Divorce?
The discovery that a spouse committed infidelity is shocking for most, and prompts many to immediately file for divorce. This type of betrayal goes to the heart of any relationship, and the wronged spouse may understandably assume that evidence of this misconduct will drastically impact the outcome of a divorce since the other party is...
Bankruptcy and the Automatic Stay
People primarily seek bankruptcy for two reasons – to get rid of debt they have no realistic way of paying back, and to stop harassing calls and letters from creditors. While overwhelming debt has obvious financial consequences, it also causes a large amount of emotional distress that is compounded by constant requests from creditors for...
Child Custody Issues Across State Lines
Deciding how to divide child custody, and following through with the agreed-upon plan, is rarely easy and full of opportunity for disagreement. When parents live in relative proximity to one another, negotiating a solution when disputes arise is often quite feasible because the closeness allows for more flexibility. However, when parents live in different states,...
What Happens to Alimony under the New Tax Reforms?
Divorce drastically alters the financial situations of most couples and requires them to make significant adjustments to transition to life as single people. For spouses who make much less than the other partner, or curtailed their own career development in favor of raising a family, this event is particularly hard to manage. While the spouse...
Unmarried Fathers Need to Investigate Paternity
The goal of any good parent is to form a strong bond with their child, which is a process that ideally starts from birth. Unmarried couples with children share this same urge, but the father is at a disadvantage legally, and potentially personally, because of the mother’s ability to pull the child away at any...