Money and Finance - Experts and Resources

Divorce Is Cue To Manage Your Money

Posted to Relevant News by Amanda Lockhart on Wed, 06/29/2011 - 8:30am

One of the things you hear a lot about in coverage of divorce trends is that women generally don’t do as well financially as men in divorce settlements. That, of course, makes it critical for you to really take stock of your finances and play an active role in managing your money, particularly if it was something you deferred to your ex during your marriage. If you’re going to be on your own, you no longer have that luxury.

It’s interesting that this trend of men getting the better end of the deal isn’t just an American thing. Britain’s Daily Mail reported the other day on a study that found divorced women in the U.K. have the same problem. Married British men are more likely to contribute to pension plans than married women. And among divorced people in England, men are more likely to be setting money aside for savings.

Sharing Custody Of Your Pup

Posted to Relevant News by Samantha Louis on Wed, 06/15/2011 - 8:05am

Losing one companion in a breakup is bad enough. Losing two can just be the pits.

For couples with pets, a split usually means just that. Steve and Lynelle, the advice team over at The Herald Bulletin, responded to one Madison County, Indiana man facing this issue.

After settling the standard business of finances and property, he and his ex-wife were left fighting over custody of their dog. It was his to begin with, but she was now threatening to sue over custody of the pooch. She had apparently become really attached to the dog and demanded they share custody of it as if it were a child.

"I told her that was the stupidest thing I had ever heard."

In fact, as advice man Steve tells it, a number of states are actually in the process of reconsidering the status of pets as mere property. Some courts have even gone so far as to set up parenting plans for pets, including custody visits!

So What Will You Do With Your Ring Once You Finalize Your Divorce?

Posted to Relevant News by Amanda Lockhart on Sun, 03/13/2011 - 8:36am

The accepted protocol on engagement rings seems to be that you get to keep it. Legally, it's not considered part of the marital assets because it was a gift given to you before you were married. And aside from that, a guy would have to really be a greedy bastard to ask to have it back. I can see a guy doing that, though, if the ring was a family heirloom. I think I'd have a hard time holding on to the engagement ring if it had belonged to my ex's grandmother, or something like that.

The wedding rings are a whole different story. Some people attach a lot of emotional meaning to them and choose not to part with them. Some people have them melted down and made into other pieces of jewelry. Some women sell both the wedding and engagement rings to pay for lawyers. One man quoted in the story said his wife sold her rings so she could get a boob job.

Show Him the Manimony

More and more husbands seeking alimony

Posted to Relevant News by Katherine McKee on Wed, 03/09/2011 - 1:54pm

Men receiving alimony want a little respect, says a recently article I read the other day. Its been well over 30 years since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against gender discrimination with regard to alimony, and divorce experts say that fewer and fewer men are outright rejecting any talk of seeking alimony.

In fact, in the United States, the percentage of alimony recipients who were male rose from 2.4% in (1996–2001) to 3.6% in (2002–2006) and is expected to increase as more marriages have a female primary earner, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

They say that percentage is likely to rise as more and more marriages feature a primary earner who is female. In 2005, which is the last year for which data is available, wives out earned their husbands in 33% of all families, up an incredible 28.2% a decade earlier.

Today's men are receiving alimony for the classic reasons that women traditionally do and did. The most common argument: They sacrificed their careers for the sake of their wives'.

Is Your STBXH Hiding Assets?

Asset hiding occurs in almost half of all divorces

Posted to Relevant News by Rachel Small on Fri, 02/25/2011 - 8:07am

Often when divorce papers are filed, suddenly marital assets are shifted, shuffled and hidden. Even though it‘s illegal and unethical to conceal marital property the practice is more common than you think. Wealthy people have been known to squirrel away assets in foreign trusts. But asset diversion is no longer a shill game of the rich.

Spouses of ordinary means may give interest-free loans to girlfriends as they contemplate divorce. Or business owners may place their mistress on the payroll at extremely high salaries. A spouse may even overpay their income taxes, often when the payment exceeds the actual income tax debt, and then, after the divorce is over, file an amended return with a request for a refund of the over payment so that the refund is not shared with the other spouse.

There are examples of guys who stop paying the mortgage on jointly-held property and allow the bank to foreclose. Then at the foreclosure sale, the ex will have his parents buy the property back so the ex-wife is cheated out of some of the marital property.

Six Steps To Protect Your Credit Rating Through Divorce

Posted to Relevant News by Katherine McKee on Wed, 02/09/2011 - 7:29am

While divorce may end one relationship, the one you have with your creditors goes on. So when your marriage is falling apart, it's urgent that you to take the neccessary steps to protect your credit.

To avoid a drastic hit on your credit score, you need to act in order to weather a financial storm created by divorce.

Financial experts have documented that a woman's credit takes a bigger hit than a man's when a couple splits up. Without a solid credit history in your own name, you won't be able to qualify for re-financing the marital home. And you're also likely to end up with high-interest credit cards and auto loans.

Consumer financial guru John Ulzheimer makes the following useful suggestions to protect your credit through divorce:

Learning To Co-Parent A Business With Your Ex-Husband

Posted to Relevant News by Amanda Lockhart on Tue, 01/25/2011 - 11:14am

Divorce is hard enough when it's just between two people. It's even more complicated when there are children involved. But what happens if you and your soon-to-be ex own a business together?

I saw that question posed in a tax advice column the other day, and the answer provided something valuable, beyond the simple X's and O's of how the assets are shared.

Sure, there was the standard discussion of the tax implications — the issues to consider if you or your ex wants to sell off your share of the business, or if both of you want to sell. But then there's the other possibility: Nobody sells anything and the two of you continue to operate the business together. And that's the part of this that I found most interesting.

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