[Ed: Originally published on Facebook.] Alimony and property division often intersect. One is an award from the CURRENT estate, and the other is an award from the FUTURE estate. Sometimes, the current estate is relatively modest, but one spouse has a substantial amount of “separate” property, not subject to being divided or awarded to the other…
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Why Do We Have Alimony?
[Ed: Originally published on Facebook.] We’re looking at alimony this week. Historically, alimony was awarded as a recognition that the traditional role of the husband was to be the “breadwinner” outside the home, while the traditional role of the wife was to care for the home and/or the children. Women in general did not have the…
What is “Alimony”?
[Ed: Originally published on Facebook.] This week we’re going to explore the concept of “alimony”. We start with a basic definition – alimony is support (almost always money) paid by one spouse to the other. If you see references to “spousal support”, that’s alimony. You may occasionally see older references to “alimony for the support of…
Other Forms of Alternative Dispute Resolution
[Ed: Originally published on Facebook.] Mediation is the most common, but certainly not the only, form of “alternative dispute resolution”. Let’s take a brief look at a couple of others. “Arbitration” is similar to an actual trial. The arbitrator(s) (there can be more than one) will make a decision, just like a judge will. The parties…
An Overview of the Mediation Process
[Ed: Originally published on Facebook.] The mediation process might vary a little bit based on your jurisdiction, but usually the process is more-or-less the same. Often a mediation will start with a so-called “joint session”, which will involve all the parties around the same table. The mediator runs this part of the mediation, and usually takes…
Preparing for Mediation
[Ed: Originally published on Facebook.] Preparing for mediation is something you should not rush through. That said, often the best way to prepare for mediation is usually to be as prepared as you can for trial. Think through – and write down – what you think your best day in court probably looks like. Be at…
Why Bother with Mediation?
[Ed: Originally published on Facebook.] Maybe you think your spouse is too hard-headed to make mediation worth your while. You may be willing to give in to just about every demand he has, just to get the case over and done with – but you know he still won’t settle. So why bother? First and foremost,…
What is Mediation?
[Ed: Originally published on Facebook.] “The judge has ordered us to attend mediation before we go to trial.” What could this judge be thinking? If we could agree on everything, we wouldn’t be getting a divorce, right? If I could talk through all this stuff with my spouse, why would I even need a lawyer? Mediation…
What is “Abandonment”?
[Ed: Originally published on Facebook.] What is “abandonment”? Some people are afraid to leave the marital home because they don’t want to be accused of having “abandoned the marriage”. It is true that in many jurisdictions, proving that one spouse “abandons” the marriage or “deserts” the other spouse prevents the abandoning spouse from claiming alimony. However,…
Mechanics of Property Division
[Ed: Originally published on Facebook.] This week we’ve been looking at examples of property division. I want to shift a little bit and talk about the mechanics of property division. As a starting point, assume every division of property – that is, every instance of one spouse transferring any property to the other spouse – carries…