Divorce Attorney Discusses Accessing Marital Funds
In this stage of your Divorce Journey, your divorce is now finalized. Unfortunately, even after a judgement of Divorce is final, disputes can still arise. Post-divorce disputes can include requests for modifications to an order, child support enforcement, contempt, relocation disputes, visitation changes, custody changes, increasing or decreasing child support and/or spousal maintenance, property disputes, alimony and more.
Child Custody
You and your former spouse are going to have to decide what the right parenting time schedule is for you both. Parenting time is always subject to change. What may have worked at the beginning of your journey when you first separated may not be the schedule that ultimately works in the end. You have to be flexible and stay in tune with the children.
If you and your spouse can’t come to an agreement, you will get the opportunity to mediate parenting time and custody issues. Every court in the state has a mediation program. There are no two better people to decide how the children are going to navigate this journey than the mother and the father.
You will have the opportunity to spend time with a mediator that can help the two of you develop a program and schedule that will work for your children. You have to think about the children and know that they’re going to mature through this process. What worked for them at the onset of your case may be something that is totally different in the end. Keep an open mind, and your journey will end with a schedule that works best for your children.
Child Support
When parents have divorced, the children must be the focal point in the process. The duty to pay child support belongs to both of the parents. In most states, there is a formula that includes both the mother’s income and the father’s income. The court will then calculate child support based on the formula. You will be required to pay child support until your child is emancipated from the home.
Emancipation is when your child has either graduated from high school or college. You will discuss the emancipation date when you and your spouse reach a settlement agreement.
Alimony and Spousal Maintenance
Alimony provides economic assistance for a set period of time to a spouse who was economically at a loss in the marriage. Alimony is based on a need to continue the marital lifestyle a spouse is used to.
There are two components to alimony. Limited duration of alimony is where you pay alimony for a finite amount of time. Duration alimony is for a set period of time following a short or moderate length marriage. There are many factors that go into an alimony case, it is best to speak with an experienced divorce lawyer to guide you through the process.
