Divorce - Get The Legal Help

1. Divorce! Get The Legal Help

2. Synopsis 1. Is Divorce Mediation Right for You? 2. Military Divorce 3. Understanding A High Net Worth Divorce

3. Is Divorce Mediation Right for You? • Mediators vs. Lawyers • Mediation is not for everyone. If a divorce is particularly contentious, the odds are, mediation is neither viable nor practical. A mediator cannot take sides, nor can they give either party the kind of personal legal advice that many people seek during a divorce. A mediator’s job is to determine and establish a final outcome that is fair to both parties, whereas an attorney individually representing you will fight to make sure that you, the client, are getting the best settlement possible. • Why choose Mediation? • So, why do so many couples choose to go through a mediator? Mediation can spare you time, money, and several stressful court appearances. It is no secret that divorce can get highly emotional, and with mediation, many of the typical headaches associated with divorce can be avoided. A good mediator is fair and impartial and will look at both sides of the marriage, conducting a careful evaluation of everything from the length of the marriage to each party’s earning capacity and the couple’s net assets; using this information, the mediator can determine the cleanest way to dissolve a marriage while addressing the needs of both parties. This can mean avoiding rehashing any painful, troubled times, assigning blame, and making hasty decisions during a sensitive time. Mediation can also be a good way to resolve child custody disputes without the need for an intense litigation; often traumatic for minor children.

4. Military Divorce • Established policies • Many established policies are in place with regard to military divorce, which is why it is beneficial to consult with an expert who is well versed in the 10/10 rule, the 20/20/20 rule, the Uniformed Services Former Spouses’ Protection Act (USFSPA), the division of military pay and pension, laws regarding child support, the division of shared assets and so forth. You and your spouse (or former spouse) are entitled to many benefits regardless of the status of your marriage, from healthcare to retirement payments. • Service of process and other legalities • In a civilian divorce, one party has his or her spouse served with a divorce summons and complaint by a process server or indifferent person. The party served has a given amount of time to respond, which varies from state to state. Typically, the summons and complaint contain a “return date”, a deadline by which the served original documents must be filed with the court. This, in turn, determines the deadline by which the respondent must file a legal appearance and, in some cases, an answer to the complaint. However, service members on active duty are afforded certain exceptions to such rules, including additional time to respond to the summons and complaint as well as other benefits. Additional time is also afforded to seek out legal representation, which can often be a hardship for a person on active duty dealing with preserving national security, let alone finding a civil attorney.

5. Military Divorce • Understanding your rights • It is highly recommended that in the event you are involved in a military divorce, you meet with legal counsel to understand the laws that are established and already in place, as well as the different factors that can affect the outcome of your divorce such as the length of your marriage, the amount of time spent in the service, whether you have children and so forth. The Department of Defense has extensive, detailed policies designed to establish the rules governing military divorces, and while they are designed to be fair and beneficial to both parties (and any dependents involved), the rules can be difficult to understand. Comprehensive, complex and variable based on an assortment of factors, it can be hard to navigate through even an amicable dissolution of marriage without the help of legal counsel. Federal and state regulations also play a role in the divorce process based on where the couple is domiciled. To understand the most efficient, least expensive, fairest, and essentially painless way to get through the military divorce process that ends with a positive outcome for both parties, meeting with legal counsel is well worth the cost of representation.

6. Understanding A High Net Worth Divorce • High net worth divorce • A high net worth divorce is, as the term suggests, the legal termination of a marriage between two individuals who collectively meet a monetary standard. The complexity and process of a high net worth divorce can vary greatly, from an amicable, no-fault divorce to an arduous, drawn out legal battle. With so much money at stake, the latter is much more common. As such, many individuals with great disparities between their own net worth and that of their partner choose to sign prenuptial agreements prior to marriage in order to protect their assets from being divided in the event of separation. Prenuptial agreements are not romantic, but they are a pragmatic, necessary measure. High net worth divorces are often more complex than typical divorces, with attorneys dividing inheritances, estates, trust funds, global properties and so forth. • The statistics • Approximately 50% of marriages end in divorce regardless of net worth. In the United States, an estimated 2,400 divorces take place every day. Like the rest of the population, high net worth individuals are just as susceptible to divorce as everyone else. Despite efforts to save a marriage and the best intentions of both parties, some marriages simply come to a natural end. Whether a divorce is contentious or not depends on a multitude of factors, but when large sums of money are being disputed, a divorce can become heated.

7. Understanding A High Net Worth Divorce • Professional recommendations • While a prenuptial agreement might theoretically go against the principle of marriage as the joining of all things, it can be the key to avoiding a long, drawn out, upsetting and expensive court battle. Some divorces can take years to reach a settlement. Many attorneys who specialize in family law recommend consulting with a professional before entering into a marriage to draw up some sort of agreement. Of course, a prenuptial agreement does not increase the odds that a marriage will fail, but in the event that a marriage does break down, a prenup can save both parties a lot of time, money and heartache. While prenuptial agreements are not iron-clad and can certainly be disputed in a court of law, they serve to protect the interests of both parties so that a fair and reasonable settlement can be reached in the event of divorce, whether among high net worth individuals or couples with an average household income.

8. For more details, please visit: https://www.eidelmanassoc.com/articles/ Eidelman & Associates 1248 Hamilton Street Allentown, PA 18102 Phone: 610-437-7850