Divorce can be just as financially problematic as it is emotionally exhausting. You may wish to visit a family attorney near Pikesville before informing your spouse that you intend on filing for divorce. Your family lawyer can offer invaluable advice on protecting your bottom line during and after your divorce.

Ignoring the Importance of Savings

When a spouse realizes that a legal separation or divorce is the only viable solution to the breakdown of a marriage, he or she may be eager to go through with the proceedings as quickly as possible. However, it’s essential to ensure that day-to-day living expenses will be met before the court issues rulings on financial matters. Once you’ve begun a legal separation or filed for divorce, you’ll need to pay legal fees and court filing fees. You may also need to make new housing arrangements and meet your other daily expenses on your income alone. Your divorce lawyer may advise you to open a savings account under only your name to allow you to support yourself while the case is pending.

Underestimating Your Expenses

You will need to submit to the court documents pertaining to your finances, including a list of your monthly expenses. Evaluating your income and expenses with the finances of your spouse aids the court in making decisions such as spousal support and child support. One common mistake divorcing spouses often make is to underestimate their monthly expenses. Keep track of exactly where your money goes during the month. Take into consideration your future needs and your child’s needs, including major expenses such as healthcare and minor costs such as school supplies.

Failing to Secure Support Payments

If you expect to receive spousal support and/or child support, you might consider asking the court to require your spouse to obtain disability and life insurance policies. This ensures that you’ll continue to receive payments in the event your ex-spouse becomes disabled or dies.

Neglecting to Consider Shared Liability for Debt

Talk to your divorce lawyer about your marital debts. He or she will help you determine which debts you may be held liable for after the divorce. Even if your spouse is responsible for paying off a credit card, the creditor may begin collection proceedings against you if your spouse fails to make payments.

In recent years, the percentage of individuals over the age of 50 who are going through a divorce has been on an upward trend. When you consult a divorce lawyer later in life, there are significant financial issues you should consider. Your family law attorney near Pikesville may recommend that you consult a financial planner regarding the tax consequences of any assets you might receive. Your family attorney may also recommend that you consider the possible effect of the divorce on your healthcare plan.

You can hear more factors to consider by watching this video or consulting your family lawyer. This video advises viewers to review their estate planning documents, since it’s likely that divorced spouses will need to change their beneficiaries, create separate wills, and establish separate trusts.

The issue of the fate of a family pet during a divorce is one example of divorce laws failing to keep up with modern times. When you have a divorce attorney serving Carroll County file a petition for divorce on your behalf, the court will view the family pet as property. Beloved animals are certainly much more than mere property; however, ownership of a pet may be determined much like any other asset. This is one reason why your family law attorney may recommend that you invite your spouse to try mediation.

Giving Mediation a Try

Mediation is often helpful for resolving disputes that arise during divorce. During mediation sessions, you might point out that you acquired the pet before getting married, if this is the case. Or, you might discuss how you are better suited to provide the care the animal needs. A successful outcome to mediation may be dependent upon compromise. Try to work out a visitation schedule with your spouse. For example, the pet could live with you for one month, followed by a month with your ex-spouse. If mediation does not result in a mutually agreeable arrangement, you may need to bring the matter before the judge.

Proving the Role of Primary Caregiver

Much like child custody during a divorce, you can support your claim to ownership of the pet by proving that you fulfilled the role of the primary caregiver for the animal. Begin assembling any evidence that can substantiate your claim. When you bring your animal to the veterinarian, you can ask him or her to sign a note stating that you were the one to bring the animal in, rather than your spouse. Purchase pet food and other supplies with a credit card. Save the receipts with your signature to prove that you provided for the animal. You could even ask your neighbors to write an affidavit stating that they have seen you walking your dog.

Determining the Most Suitable Caregiver

Another factor the judge may consider is which spouse is best able to care for the animal going forward. For example, if your spouse must travel frequently for work and you do not, you may be better suited to provide care. The same applies to spouses who work long hours away from home versus spouses who work out of a home office.

One of the benefits of hiring a family attorney near Owings Mills is that he or she can provide legal guidance when you experience a problem with child custody or support. If your ex-spouse fails to make timely child support payments, your divorce lawyer can explain your legal options. These options do not include denying visitation to your ex-spouse. Visitation and child support are two completely separate issues. Only a court order can modify a child support arrangement .

Under most circumstances, children need ongoing access to both parents, regardless of whatever disputes may arise between the parents. Child support is not dependent upon the amount of time spent with either parent. For example, if a child spends a few weeks with the non-custodial parent during the summer, the non-custodial parent is still responsible for paying child support during those weeks. If you to attempt to reduce or deny visitation because of late child support, your ex-spouse may hire a family law attorney. The divorce lawyer can file a petition with the court to request that visitation rights be enforced.

Maryland divorce laws provide for limited and absolute divorce. A limited divorce is actually a legal separation; spouses are still legally married during this time. In contrast, when an absolute divorce is finalized, spouses are no longer legally married. To find out whether you can file for an absolute divorce, you can consult family lawyers serving Owings Mills.

Legal Separation

When spouses do not have any other grounds for an absolute divorce, a divorce lawyer can file for a limited divorce. The spouses must then live apart from each other for 12 consecutive months without cohabitation, unless the conditions from the paragraph below are present. When this time period ends, the spouses will have grounds for a no fault absolute divorce. It is not necessary for both spouses to consent to the divorce if the legal separation requirement has been fulfilled. However, if the spouses live together or have sexual relations even once during this time, the 12-month time period begins again.

Mutual Consent

Maryland divorce laws were recently updated to make it easier for some couples to file for absolute divorce without having to wait through a 12-month legal separation. Spouses may be eligible for an absolute divorce based on the grounds of mutual consent if they do not share any minor children and the parties submit a written settlement agreement to the court signed by both parties. The settlement agreement must resolve all divorce issues such as property distribution. Additionally, both parties must appear in court at the divorce hearing. Before the divorce is finalized, either party may choose to file a motion to set aside the settlement agreement, in which case the divorce proceeding will be halted.

Fault-Based Grounds

In addition to the grounds for a no fault absolute divorce, spouses in Maryland may choose to file for divorce based on wrongdoing. For example, a spouse may present evidence to prove that the other spouse has committed adultery, in which case the court can grant the divorce immediately. Or, a spouse may demonstrate that the other spouse has deserted the family home, engaged in cruel treatment, was convicted of a crime, or was confined to a mental institution.

In Maryland, divorce laws allow the court to award alimony for the purpose of maintaining a standard of living that is comparable to the standard of living enjoyed during the marriage, or at least comparable to the other spouse. Consider talking to a divorce lawyer about the alimony laws in Maryland and places like Pikesville that may apply to you. Like child support, alimony arrangements may be modifiable later on if either ex-spouse’s financial circumstances change.

Letting the Court Determine Alimony

In Maryland, spouses who do not have children in common and who agree to a divorce settlement outside of court can seek an absolute divorce on the grounds of mutual consent. The divorce settlement must include provisions for spousal support, if applicable. However, it isn’t necessarily in either party’s best interests to sign an agreement for spousal support, rather than letting the judge determine the amount and type of support. This is because the court is required to honor these agreements. In other words, either party may not seek a modification through the court in the event that circumstances change. Talk to your alimony lawyer about letting the court determine the matter of spousal support.

Extending or Terminating Alimony

A Maryland court may award alimony pendente lite. This is temporary alimony that is only paid while the divorce is pending. When alimony continues after the divorce is finalized, it is either rehabilitative (short-term) or indefinite. If a spouse was awarded rehabilitative alimony, he or she may petition the court to extend the period in which he or she will receive payments as long as the rehabilitative alimony is modifiable. To argue the spouse’s case, the divorce lawyer may demonstrate that the recipient spouse is unable to become fully self-supporting. Alternatively, a spouse may petition to terminate rehabilitative or indefinite alimony. A termination may be called for if the payor spouse is no longer financially able to make the payments or if the recipient spouse becomes self-supporting.

Modifying the Amount of the Payments

During a divorce, it is impossible to foresee unexpected circumstances such as job loss or reduced wages. There may come a time when the payor spouse is not able to make the full alimony payments. Or, the recipient spouse may receive an inheritance or other sizable financial gift. In either circumstance, one of the spouses may petition the court to modify the amount of the payments.

Although service to one’s country is invaluable, military families face incredible challenges. The strain of a lengthy deployment can often contribute to the breakdown of a relationship and a subsequent divorce proceeding. However, even in the absence of divorce, military families may need to consult a child custody lawyer serving Owings Mills. This is because the military mandates the creation of Family Care Plans for certain servicemembers.

Family Care Plans

A Family Care Plan is a document that establishes child custody arrangements; however, it is used by parents who are not divorcing. The military requires servicemember parents to have an official Family Care Plan under certain circumstances, such as when both parents are active duty servicemembers with children under the age of 19. This document details how care will be provided to the children in the event that one or both parents are deployed on a short-term or long-term basis. For example, during a short-term absence such as a week-long training program, the child might stay with a nearby aunt or uncle. For a long-term deployment, it may be more appropriate for the child to stay with a different relative, even if this relative lives farther away. Military Family Care Plans also designate a guardian for the child in the event of the death of the military parent. A family law attorney can help parents develop a Family Care Plan.

Military Relocations

When military parents separate or divorce, relocations can be particularly tricky. Child custody is governed by state law, even for military families. This means that it is likely that the custodial parent will have to ask the court for permission to move with the child when that parent is transferred to a different post.

Child Custody Modifications

The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) gives military parents certain legal rights. When an active duty servicemember is deployed and the other parent files for divorce or a change in child custody, the active duty servicemember can obtain a stay of court and administrative proceedings. This stay postpones court proceedings for 90 days to allow the servicemember to be present. Sometimes, the judge may decide to extend the stay.

After a divorce, either parent may petition for a change of the minor’s last name. Changing the child’s last name will not affect either parent’s legal obligations to the child, such as child custody or support. If you feel that changing your child’s last name is in his or her best interests, talk to an attorney in Owings Mills. The family law attorney can prepare and file a Petition for Name Change. If both parents consent to the name change, the petition is likely to be granted.

Bear in mind that you are legally obligated to advise the other parent of the Petition for Name Change and the other parent has the right to file an objection. If the other parent does not consent to the name change, the court will schedule a hearing to decide the matter. At the hearing, your divorce lawyer must demonstrate that the name change is in the child’s best interests. For example, your attorney might provide evidence of misconduct or abandonment by the other parent.