Posted on June 19, 2014 in Divorce

Many divorces occur amicably with the two parties reaching agreeable compromises on property division. However, some divorces are more acrimonious. One common way that confrontation can manifest is through spouses attempting to conceal marital assets to keep from having to divide them in the divorce. This happens despite the fact that many jurisdictions contain rules requiring the disclosure of assets.

People have developed a variety of strategies that they can use to hide their funds, ranging from simplistic and easy to detect to highly subtle or sophisticated. Broadly speaking, they fall into two categories: expense manipulation and income manipulation. Expense manipulation involves techniques that make it appear as though the person is spending more money than what is actually be spent. They can then secret the difference away without having to divide it in the divorce. Income manipulation, which will be covered in part two, involves the opposite: people deferring income until after the divorce to keep it out of the marital estate.

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on June 17, 2014 in Divorce

A large part of divorce involves the practical issues related to separating two lives that have been managed jointly. This presents unique problems in the digital age when an increased number of those lives take place online.

A recent study by the Pew Research Internet Project found that over one in four couples have a joint email account and 67 percent of people in a committed relationship have shared at least one of their passwords with a significant other. People going through divorce should make sure to stay conscious of these electronic ties that they share with their soon-to-be ex-spouse. Otherwise, they could unwittingly allow their former partner to look into their private affairs.

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on June 12, 2014 in Divorce

While there is a cultural idea that marriage tends to lead to weight gain and divorce to weight loss, based on whether someone is trying to attract a member of the opposite sex, the reality actually turns out to be somewhat more complicated. A study from the Sociology Department at the Ohio State University looked at BMI reports culled from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth.

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on June 10, 2014 in Divorce

Over the past several decades women have made great strides in entering the workforce. In fact, a study by the Pew Research institute revealed that, in 2011, 40 percent of households with children under the age of 18 have mothers as either the sole or primary source of income. This number has almost quadrupled since 1960, when it was only 11 percent.

These mothers fall into two distinct groups. A little over one third of them are married women who earn more income than their husbands. The rest are single mothers. The first group, married women earning more than their husbands, is driving an interesting demographic change in the outcomes of divorce cases.

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on June 05, 2014 in Child Custody

Summer can be a particularly stressful time for parents. Kids are home from school and need supervision and entertainment. In addition to the time these things take, there can be an added financial stress during an already stressful time.

In fact, the majority of adults feel extra worry about money during the summer, and this worry is particularly pronounced among parents of children under 17, with 62 percent of whom expect to spend over $1,400 on activities for their kids, according to a study done by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. These stresses are only compounded for divorced parents who have an extra layer of complexity because of joint child custody agreements.

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on June 03, 2014 in Divorce

Much of the divorce process involves a negotiation between the two spouses. This can be a difficult experience for many people since Americans as a culture tend to shy away from negotiating, according to a report by Business News Daily.

Fortunately, the spouses will have their lawyers there to handle much of the negotiating for them, but understanding basic negotiation strategy, particularly how to handle the opening phase of negotiations, can still help people feel more comfortable with the process.

Negotiation Strategies

Negotiations are a complex affair that people approach with different strategies based on their personality type. Some people opt for a very competitive negotiating style, where they attempt to come out as the “winner” at the end of the day. Others choose to adopt a more collaborative divorce style. They seek to find outcomes that are win-win situations, and often operate with an eye towards preserving the relationship between the negotiators in the long term.

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on May 30, 2014 in Divorce

The idea of a lawsuit culminating in a trial is heavily ingrained is a common motif, especially in pop culture. If a television show or a movie involves a lawsuit, then the climax probably happens in a courtroom with a lawyer giving an impassioned speech to a judge or jury. However, in real life the trial is the exception.

According to a Northwestern law professor, only two percent of civil cases go to trial. Most cases end in a settlement between the two parties. This is because trials are not the ideal way to solve disputes. They are long, expensive processes, which is as true in the divorce context as it is in any other. Consequently, many parties attempt to engage in a four-way settlement conference to come to an agreement themselves rather than allowing courts to decide.

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on May 28, 2014 in Divorce

The emotionally charged nature of divorces can lead to a lot of bad blood welling up between the soon to be ex-spouses. If this happens then it can lead to one of the spouses becoming intractable and difficult with whom to negotiate. This can be especially difficult in a world where divorce mediation is becoming common, as more and more people begin to recognize the benefits of cooperating with their partner to divide up the assets. Fortunately, there are strategies available to help a person cope with an uncooperative spouse, and still move forward with negotiations.

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on May 24, 2014 in Divorce

After finalizing a divorce, many women who have taken their husband’s last name face the decision of whether they would like to change it back to their maiden name. Some women view this as another step in moving past their divorce, as it allows them to receive closure by shedding their husband’s name.

Other women develop more of an emotional attachment to the name. They may have had it for decades at this point, so they view it as their own, separate from any association it has with their ex-husband. The presence of children from the marriage can further complicate the question.

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on May 21, 2014 in Divorce

With the rising incidence of gray divorce, the question of how divorce proceedings affect a person’s Social Security income is becoming more pressing. Many people wonder whether the courts will divide up Social Security benefits the way they divide up other retirement accounts.

In the alternative, people often ask about whether they can benefit from their ex-spouse’s work history record. This can be an especially important issue in cases where one spouse stopped working to take care of the home, while the other continued paying into Social Security.

Continue Reading ››