Alimony in Idaho

I hear from a lot of people that they don't think that alimony is a thing in Idaho anymore.  Idaho does allow for the payment of alimony, now known as Spousal Support or Spousal Maintenance.  Support, however, doesn't look like it used to.  At one time a woman could expect to receive alimony for the rest of her life or at least until she got remarried.  Maintenance looks different now.

How to Get Spousal Support in Idaho

Support isn't mandatory.  In Idaho, your divorce lawyer will have to ask for spousal support.  Even when they ask for it it isn't automatic.  There are criteria that have to be met for the judge to even consider whether or not they will award the spousal maintenance.  Some of those criteria are the length of the marriage, the earning capacity of the parties, the age and health of the person seeking support and things like that.  Your divorce attorney will have to show the court that you meet the criteria and then the judge will decide how much and for how long you will receive support.  There is no formula but the judge will look at the respective incomes of the parties for guidance.  The other thing is that if you are capable of working and bringing in enough money to support yourself, it is unlikely that you will get support ordered.

Unequal Division of Property and Spousal Support

While it is possible to get both an unequal division of property and spousal support that is not the norm.  If you are one of the lucky people whose spouse makes millions of dollars every year then you might qualify for both spousal maintenance and an unequal division of property.  For ordinary folks it one or the other.

What if I Gave Up My Career to Stay Home

Giving up your career to stay home is a criteria the judge will look at when considering if support should be ordered.  The judge also looks at how long it would take you to be trained, get a degree or a certification that will allow you to support yourself.  If for example, you were in nursing school at the time of your divorce the judge would consider how long it would take you to complete that education and how much you will make at the conclusion of the training.  That would be a determining factor in how long the support would last.

If you find yourself in need of a Boise Divorce Attorney, give us a call.  You will be glad you did.  Give us a call at (208) 472-2383 for a consultation with one of our divorce lawyers.  Consultations are always free.

QDRO in Idaho

 What is a QDRO and Do I Need One

 QDRO Meaning   

A QDRO stands for qualified domestic relations order.  A QDRO is used in divorce to divide retirement accounts belonging to the community.  If monies are placed in a retirement during the marriage they are presumed to be community property.  As community property they can divided between the parties as part of the divorce settlement.

Are Retirement Benefits Always Split Equally

The presumption in Idaho is that any property or monies procured during marriage are community property.  Retirement benefits are no different.  Further, the presumption under the Idaho Code is that the property of the parties is to be divided equally between the parties.  I will talk about how to overcome that presumption in a future blog entry.  While the division of property and monies is supposed to be equal, that does not mean that everything has to be split down the middle.  The parties can agree to divide the property "equally" but name which properties or which money each party gets, resulting in an equal division.  That having been said, if you can't agree on how to divide up your property or money and you have to go to trial, the judge will often literally split everything down the middle.  On those items that can't be physically split, the judge will order that they be sold and the proceeds split between the parties.

Retirement Benefits From Before Marriage

If you received retirement benefits before marriage those are your separate property and unless you gifted a portion of them to your spouse, they will remain your separate property and your spouse won't get any of the proceeds from that account in your divorce.  What happens often, however, is that a person will have a retirement account and be making regular contributions before marriage. Then, when they get married they continue to contribute monies to the retirement account.  Those monies that are contributed after marriage are community property.  The contribution before marriage are separate property.  A QDRO can also help split these monies up.  The administrator of the retirement plan is provided the date of marriage, the date of divorce and the QDRO order.  With that information they can calculate the amount of "community funds" and then divided according to what is ordered in the QDRO.  That division may be 50% of the community funds but it could also be some other percentage depending upon the agreement of the parties or how the retirement accounts were ultimately divided.

If you have questions about retirement accounts and divorce or any other divorce issue and need to speak with a divorce attorney, give us a call, (208) 472-2383.  You will be glad you did.  Also, visit us at our website

Consultations are always free.

Owing Child Support

 How Much Child Support am I Going to Owe?

I get calls every day asking this very question.  How much child support am I going to owe?  I also get the question of how can I pay less child support.

Child support is based upon a formula figured in a computer program.  The only thing that makes a difference is the numbers you put in.

Do I Have to Prove How Much Money I Make?

Part of the process of calculating child support is completing an affidavit verifying income and providing pay stubs to fill in the affidavit.  The second part of the process is signing the affidavit swearing that the numbers are correct.  So the short answer is, yes, you do have to show your income.

Is My Income the Only Consideration When it Comes to Calculating Support?

No, in addition to your income, the computer program takes into consideration how many over night visitations you have, if you are paying for health insurance and who is taking the income tax deduction.  Essentially, you can lower the amount of child support you have to pay by having more overnights.  That is not to say you should seek more overnights simply to reduce your child support.  Everything that is done in terms of child custody and child support is based upon the best interest of the child.  If the judge sees that your motivation in seeking more overnights is to decrease your support, it is very likely the judge will not grant additional overnight time to you.

How Do I Go About Changing or Updating My Child Support?

The first thing to do is to give us a call.  Whether the support is part of a divorce or is part of a modification one of our divorce attorneys can help you find the best answer.  We always offer a free consultation and we can give you a good idea of what to expect as far as your child support.  Give us a call and see what we can do for you.  Visit us on the web or give us a call, (208) 472-2383.  You will be glad you did.

Divorce - The Reasons People Get Divorced

Why Do People Get Divorced?

People get divorce for so many different reasons.  It is hard to peg down just one common reason.  The concept of Irreconcilable Differences was introduced to address this issue.  It used to be that you had to have a reason why you wanted to divorce and then you had to prove that reason in court.  Divorce became so common and the courts finally caught up with the times.  You now can get divorced without having to prove anything.

Just because you don't have to prove anything doesn't mean that there aren't reasons why people get divorced.  Today I will address the top three reasons; Money, Adultery and Incompatibility.

Money

Money is a big issue.  The reasons behind why money is an issue are endless but in general they come down to people disagree about how to spend money, how much money to save, one party is working too much, the other party isn't working or contributing, someone is spending all the money on things the other party doesn't agree with.

Adultery

While technically adultery can be a "for cause" grounds for divorce, it  is often the reason people seek a divorce on the grounds of irreconcilable differences.  What I mean by that is that if you say you are seeking a divorce on the grounds of adultery, then you would have to prove the adultery.  If you aren't attached to having the other party being labeled an "adulterer", you can seek a divorce on the grounds of irreconcilable differences and you don't have to prove anything.  Some people live in a constant state of adultery and it doesn't seem to bother them.  Other people are truly offended by the misdeed and see it as a betrayal.

Incompatibility

While you would think that incompatibility shows up early in a marriage, it can actually show up at anytime.  In newly weds, incompatibility makes the parties do a gut check when they realize that they their personalities don't match, they don't love each other or it was just a fling.  In older couples, incompatibility usually shows up in "we have grown apart".  It isn't maybe that they were originally incompatible, they just don't have any compatibility now.

If you are seeking a divorce and need to speak to one of our attorneys, give us a call, (208) 472-2383.  Our divorce attorneys have the experience to help you.

Mediation in Divorce

 The Role of Mediation in Divorce

I have spoken before about mediation in the divorce process before but I cannot stress enough the value of mediation.  Mediation is a process to help divorcing couples work out issues which they are unable to agree on.  Old school contested divorce consisted of arguing the conflicts in front of a judge and the judge deciding how things would be done or divided.  More and more the judges are not just asking, but sometimes demanding, that sensitive issues like custody, be worked out between the parties.

Why Mediation

You might say, "if the judge isn't going to decide what's the point?"  The point is very simple.  You and your spouse know your family best.  You know your kids, you know their schedules, their hopes and dreams and fears.  You know what makes your kids tick.  The judge is an outsider.  If push comes to shove the judge will decide based upon the criteria set forth in the Idaho Code.  That criteria, however, is sterile in the sense that it is simply a guideline.  To make a judgment as to how your minor children will spend their lives until they are 18 based on a guideline is a fail for your children.

Working Together

Sometimes it is all but impossible to work together and that is why you are getting divorced.  You can disagree as to the division of your property and your debt and the judge will apply community property laws to solve the issue if you can't agree.  If you have minor children, the business of divorce is a process.  There will be years of coparenting and, while you may not agree as to how your spouse does things, the parties need to work together for the benefit of the children.  On going disagreement and conflict will not change the other party or get back at them, it will hurt your children.  So many kids today live in homes where a divorce has taken place.  The schools are overwhelmed with custody battles and schedules.  In my opinion, the best way to resolve a custody issue is through agreement.  If you can't agree on your own mediation can help the parties see what is important and what isn't.

If you are seeking a divorce or custody and need to speak with a Boise Divorce Attorney, give us a call and see what we can do for you, (208) 472-2383 or visit us a our divorce page.

Uncontested Divorce

What is an Uncontested Divorce?

People often ask me what an uncontested divorce is.  There are many types of divorce (check my website for the various kinds www.lawboiseid.com.html) including uncontested, contested, default etc.  An uncontested divorce simply means the parties agree, or substantially agree, about the terms of the divorce.  They have essentially worked out the details themselves or they have the majority of the details worked out but need some help from a divorce attorney or a mediator to settle on the other details.

What Next?

So, what do you do if you have the details of your divorce worked out or substantially worked out?  One party, or one party's attorney, needs to file the divorce petition, just like you would in any other divorce.  The other party needs to be served with the divorce papers just like the way you would in any other divorce.  Likewise, if children are involved, the parties need to attend the focus on children workshop. 

So What's the Difference?

The difference comes in how the paperwork is handled after the initial steps are taken. Once all the wrinkles are worked out, your divorce attorney will either prepare a stipulation or prepare the default paperwork.  A stipulation is an agreement between the parties as to the terms of the divorce which is submitted along with the final paperwork.  That agreement contains all the terms of the divorce.
A default judgment occurs if the parties decide that they don't want to stipulate to anything but that one party just won't fight the divorce.

It is important, in a stipulation, to be as specific as possible so that all the details are covered and there is nothing that is left out which would necessitate the case being reopened.  Likewise, if the divorce is taken by default, if the paperwork isn't specific enough, there could be an argument that the case needs to be reopened. Just an FYI, there are other reasons too why a default judgment may be reopened.  I will touch on that in a later post.

In an uncontested divorce, once the judgment and decree of divorce, the stipulation are signed by the judge and all the relevant divorce paperwork is filed, the divorce is final. 

How long does it take?

A truly uncontested divorce can happen very quickly.  Once all the paperwork is submitted and no amendments or further changes are made, a judge will sometimes sign the decree within 2 weeks.  Sometimes, if there are children involved, the judge may wait the 21 day period allowed for a party to file an Answer before they will sign the stipulation.  The long and short of it is that uncontested divorces can, and do, happen very fast. 

If you need to speak with an attorney concerning divorce, child custody, child support, modification or any other family law issue, give us a call, (208) 472-2383.  You will be glad you did.