Multi-State Divorce & Family Law Blog by Stange Law Firm, PC

It is important to provide for your child’s college education before you sign that divorce decree. Make sure that your attorney has spelled out the college education that you, your ex, and your child have in mind. The specific language should provide the best financial outcome for your child and both parents. Beth Walker of College Founding Coaches provides the below checklist of things to consider, during your divorce process, regarding your child’s college education: 1. The parent with the least amount of income should have often have custody or be the residential parent (and the corresponding tax deduction for

Women are the sole or primary breadwinners in 4 out of 10 households with children, according to a 2013 report by the Pew Research Center. This has happened by choice, by chance, or by need per a new survey of 2,000 working moms and dads conducted by Working Mother Media. These moms and dads speak out about how they feel about their roles. The ‘pleased’ vs. ‘reluctant’ breadwinning mom Breadwinning moms who didn’t choose to be the primary earners in their families tend to feel less satisfied about their lives than women who consciously selected the role: 29% of the

Missouri maintenance law has some traditional and some modern aspects. For most divorcing couples, whether spousal maintenance – a legal obligation of money support payments from one ex-spouse to the other – is awarded can make a big difference in the future economic situation for each of them. Historically called alimony, Missouri statutes now refer to these support payments as maintenance. Negotiated maintenance First, the parties may decide to negotiate an agreement about whether maintenance will be paid as well as its terms such as amount and duration. Missouri allows the spouses to negotiate maintenance as the subject of a

The alimony tax deduction has been a staple of divorce law for a long time. The issue first arose to prominent in the U.S. Supreme Court case of Gould v. Gould, 245 U.S. 151 (1917). In Gould, the U.S. Supreme Court ultimately found that alimony was not tax deductible. In 1942, Gould was overruled by the Revenue Tax Act of 1942. Since that time, alimony (also known as spousal maintenance) has been tax deductible in divorce matters. Litigants in divorce matters have come to rely on the fact. However, under a new tax bill that was presented to President Trump,

Couples getting a divorce often worry about the impact on their children. Breaking the news, and helping children deal with their emotions and new routines may be challenging. Parents, however, may use a variety of strategies to make the transition easier. Telling the Children To minimize distress and uncertainty, children should know about the divorce earlier in the process instead of at the last minute. Experts give the following tips for the often difficult conversation with the children: Tell the children together Keep it simple and avoid going into details about each other’s faults Emphasize that the divorce is not

Judges have fairly wide discretion to fashion alimony awards in Oklahoma. One of the more important legal issues to be settled in divorce is whether alimony – the payment of support from one ex-spouse to the other after divorce – will be granted as part of the final divorce order. In many divorces, alimony, also known as spousal support or spousal maintenance, can make a major impact of the lifestyles of the parties – both the paying party as well as the recipient, in some cases. First, two people who are divorcing often can negotiate a settlement agreement in which

On behalf of Kirk Stange Judges are directed in this task by state statute and guided in detail by the case law as explained in numerous Kansas court opinions. In recent years, some states have enacted major reforms of their alimony laws. Those reforms in general have reigned in the flexibility and discretion in judges’ power to craft awards. But in Kansas, judges retain relatively broad discretion under the law to create maintenance awards that judges feel will meet the needs of divorcing couples. This responsibility is immense not only because of the impact these decisions have on families, but

Illinois recently updated its alimony guidelines in response to the elimination of the alimony deduction. Earlier this year President Trump signed into law the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), a major piece of tax reform legislation. Included in that law was the elimination of the 75-year-old alimony tax deduction. The loss of that tax deduction meant that many states that factor in the deduction when determining alimony (also called spousal support or maintenance) guidelines, including Illinois, would have to update their guidelines. Now, as the Chicago Tribune reports, Illinois has done just that, meaning that soon alimony amounts will

On behalf of Kirk Stange This article explains how to treat a college savings 529 plan in divorce. No matter how high it gets, college tuition seems to increase every year. As part of saving for your children’s education, you may have put significant assets into a college savings 529 plan. Created in 1996, these plans allow you some tax advantages as you save for college. Anyone can contribute to a 529 plan, which will grow tax-deferred while funds remain in the account. If used for qualified educational expenses, then they are exempt from income tax. However, the owner of