When you pay child support, it is very important that the Division of Child Support knows how payments are being arranged, but it is also important to keep an eye on your credit. Child support agencies can report child support arrears to credit agencies, and ruining your credit report.
One man i…
There are many stories about deadbeat parents who don’t pay their child support, but paying child support is more than just sending checks to your ex. There is actually a long chain of individuals that assist in the process. Employers are one important chain. Most of the child support in this cou…
If your ex-spouse is honorable, they will comply with court orders for child support payments as best as they can. However, if they cannot or will not comply, the Division of Child Support has several options to enforce them to pay.
The Division of Child Support is responsible for providing chil…
Spousal maintenance payments can force people to make very difficult decisions. When a court calculates spousal maintenance, all the assets of the one who is paying are taken into account, not just income. Someone paying may have to sell land, rental property, or other tangible assets to raise th…
Washington is a community property state. This has very important implications in divorce cases. In community property states, most of the property of a couple is considered jointly owned. When a divorce happens, it is split equally among the parties. However, this also includes debts. In a nutsh…
States don’t just have their own child support laws, but must also follow federal law on the matter. Last year, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Child Support Enforcement put up a list of proposed changes for public comment. The response was positive, though some legisl…
Many of the divorces that hit the newswires are from extremely rich people. The complexity of assets from multi-billionaires and the rich lifestyles they lead make these cases very hard to try. One Russian oligarch may be in for the world’s most expensive divorce. The total payout could be more t…
One of the hardest things that a family law judge must decide is how to impute income. Imputing income is legalese for deciding how much income each party in a divorce case has and how much they are expected to make in the future. This information is used to decide fair amounts of spousal mainten…
Using the services of a divorce lawyer should be done judiciously to avoid high legal fees after a divorce is settled. The longer a divorce is dragged out, the more expensive it gets. Sometimes it gets so bad that a judge is forced to comment on it.
That’s what happened in Britain when two very …
Divorcing late in life is becoming more common. This brings up questions about how dividing finances works for retirement assets. One area where this is easy is Social Security benefits. In fact, you may be able to claim your ex-spouse’s benefits long after a divorce happened if you meet certain …