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While most parents will go to considerable lengths to ensure their child has everything they need, there are those who seem to think of their financial obligations as voluntary. Maybe they simply want to punish the parent who receives support and does not care that it is also harming the child, or perhaps they consider their wants more important. Either way, the failure to pay court-ordered child support can have dire consequences, both for the receiving parent and the child. Thankfully, there are some strategies that you can employ to collect your arrears. Learn more, including how an experienced attorney can assist, with help from the following information.
Garnishments and Property Liens
When an obligated parent has the funds or assets to pay their arrears but refuses to do so, receiving parents can seek a wage garnishment or a lien on any property that the obligor owns. If the parent does not have any wages and is collecting unemployment, the receiving parent may request that child support be withheld from their unemployment benefits. One can also attempt to have the obligor’s tax refund intercepted if they owe arrears. Alternatively, if the parent does not have any real property but has a substantial amount in their retirement benefits, the receiving parent may seek an order to have the funds pulled from the retirement account with a Qualified Domestic Relations Order (QDRO).
In most healthy relationships, parents will work together during a divorce to protect the best interests of their children. They communicate, either with one another directly or through their attorneys, and are sensitive to the feelings and needs of their child when negotiating the details of their parenting plan, especially when it comes to the other parent.
Sadly, this is not the experience that every family has during divorce. Instead, one parent ends up fighting against the other, asserting their parental rights in hopes that they can still preserve the bond they have with their child. These parents are often victims of parental alienation. Why is this problematic, how can you recognize it in your divorce, and what can you do if you suspect that it is happening to you? The following information explains further.
Defining Parental Alienation
Seen most often in high conflict divorces and separations, parental alienation is defined as a set of behaviors that one parent uses to erode the bond that the child has with the other parent. Manipulation and bullying, sometimes at extreme levels, are the most commonly used tactics, and they can have serious, life-long consequences for the child, especially if it is left unaddressed. It can rob a child of the warm and loving relationship they once had with the alienated parent, and it may even increase the child’s odds of a mental or psychological disorder.
Although divorce rates in America have declined over most age groups throughout the last several years, the rate is still high enough to create the perfect conditions for large blended families. Sadly, the risk of divorce is much higher for those in their subsequent marriages. If one does occur, the new family unit could be at risk of a breakdown – and that can be especially damaging to children who have already experienced a divorce. Learn how you can protect your children and stepchildren from the negative effects of a second divorce, and discover how an experienced attorney may be able to help.
The Legal Complexities of Blended Families
While some stepparents legally adopt their stepchildren, this is not always an option. That is because the biological parent retains their rights unless they give them up voluntarily or have had them severed by the courts. In most instances, this is a positive thing. It can increase the chances that the child will have a continued relationship with both of their biological parents, which can reduce their chances of a maladjustment issue after a divorce.
Although most divorces involve two emotionally and mentally stable individuals, narcissism in divorce is becoming a more common issue. In fact, some 8 percent of men and 5 percent of women have full-blown narcissistic personality disorder, and an even higher percentage may exhibit narcissistic behaviors that place them on the spectrum. Learn what it means to divorce a narcissist, discover some tips that can help, and examine how an experienced attorney can mitigate against the potential risks that you may encounter along the way.
Is Your Spouse a Narcissist?
The word narcissist is often used to describe selfish or self-centered people, but true narcissists display certain personality traits. The most noticeable of them (and easiest to detect) are the lack of empathy and accountability. Ever the victim, the narcissist also tends to blame their spouse for the failure of their marriage, even if they did something reprehensible, such as cheating. Sadly, these are the very same issues that can cause complications in a divorce.
Most divorcing parties know that an attorney can benefit them during a divorce, but few understand the role or importance of a financial advisor. Able to examine your financial situation and work closely with you and your attorney, these professionals are known for their ability to plan far into the financial future. Learn how having both a financial advisor and an attorney during your divorce may improve your life, long after the divorce is over.
What Does a Financial Advisor Do?
Financial advisors, such as Certified Public Accountants (CPAs) help individual’s make smarter decisions with their money. That can include large sums of money, but it can also pertain to one’s monthly or annual cash flow. For example, an advisor may notice that you are spending a lot of extra money on various memberships that could be combined to offer the same benefits at a lower price. They can also search for spending patterns that may be hindering your ability to reach or maintain financial stability. A financial advisor may even be able to provide you with the knowledge and tools that you would need to achieve a financial status that goes beyond survival and stability to create a sustainable source of future wealth (i.e. starting an investment portfolio to fund your retirement).
Entering serious financial troubles is a subject that no one wants to discuss. Moreover, having to make the decision to file for bankruptcy can be very embarrassing and frustrating. Yet sometimes filing for bankruptcy is the best option. To file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, there are qualifications and requirements that must be met, so that the overall process can go as smoothly as possible.
What is Chapter 7 Bankruptcy?
Chapter 7 bankruptcy, also known as “liquidation bankruptcy,” releases most unsecured debt, including credit card debt, medical payments, and personal loans. This type of bankruptcy is the easiest, quickest, and most common, with over 63 percent of all bankruptcy cases filed under Chapter 7 in 2016.
What Are the Requirements for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy?
To qualify for Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing, an individual must pass a test that examines income, expenses, and debt. There is a possibility that the person filing for bankruptcy may need to sell all non-exempt assets. However, a home, car, and work equipment may be retained, as they are exempt assets.
Alimony is meant to provide a disadvantaged party with the financial resources they need to recover after a divorce but it can be a burden for the paying party. In fact, many rely on the tax break they receive at the end of the year to even out the expense. Sadly, that tax could be eliminated if the GOP bill tax bill is passed by the Senate, as is. Learn more about how its passage could impact you in divorce and what an experienced attorney can do to help.
The GOP Bill and Divorce
As of right now, paying parties can claim their alimony as a tax deduction. This not only reduces the individual’s tax load at the end of the year, but it also helps to keep more money in the family unit. If eliminated, it could increase the risk of divorce-induced poverty among already at-risk families, such as those classified as low to middle income by the government.
Since the paying party’s income would also be reduced by the increased tax burden, passage of the GOP bill could also change how child support is calculated. This, too, could increase a family’s risk of poverty after a divorce. Divvying up assets in a marriage may also be more complex, as there would be less to go around. That can cause more legal fees, which may cut even further into each party’s divorce settlement. Thankfully, it may be possible to mitigate against all these risks, as well as any others that may arise from the passage of the GOP bill.
Divorce can be difficult for all involved parties, but children are often the most susceptible to lifelong complications. For example, studies have shown that children of divorce may be more likely to experience certain health issues, behavioral issues, and mental illness in childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. Children may also experience maladjustment issues during and immediately after the divorce, such as bedwetting and separation anxiety.
Thankfully, other studies have shown that parents can mitigate the risk with 50-50 shared parenting. Now a father’s rights group is pushing for that arrangement to be the presumed arrangement in family courts. Learn what this might mean for your divorce case, should they be successful, and discover how an experienced attorney can help you now, regardless of whether their efforts change the law or not.
Fathers Remain at a Disadvantage in Divorce
Historically, pets have been treated more like furniture in divorce than living, feeling beings – but that is all about to change. A new divorce law, set to take effect on January 1, 2018, changes that. Learn more about this new law and how it may affect your divorce, and discover how an experienced lawyer can assist with the various aspects of your case, such as your right to continued pet ownership after an Illinois divorce.
A Closer Look at the New Law
As the law stands now, pets are treated as an asset in the marital estate but because they cannot be divided like other assets, they typically go to the owner that paid for the animal’s care (or the one that can most feasibly continue to financially care for the animal). Sadly, this has resulted in many pets being separated from the owner that loved them most. There have also been cases in which spouses have fought for a family pet out of anger or retaliation, only to neglect or surrender the beloved companion once everything is over.
Domestic violence in divorce is more common than most people realize, yet there is still little statistical information on the challenges that victims face after leaving their marriage. For example, experts have long known that victims and their children are at risk for heightened violence after leaving the relationship, but they questioned whether the type of abuse may be an influencing factor in the severity or frequency of such issues.
There is also little evidence on how co-parenting with an abuser may affect the victim. Instead, the focus is typically placed on the influence that an abuser may have the child (whether positive or negative). While this is not just expected, but also typically what is best for the child, there are scenarios in which that may not be the case. One prime example might be if the continued contact places the mother in serious physical danger and the anxiety of it is negatively affecting the child. In such situations, an appropriate strategy may be needed.
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