Let me just say this: prenuptial agreements aren’t all that common. And, if your soon to be husband has presented you with one, you have three options: 1. Sign it as is, and hope for the best. (Generally not recommended.) 2. Don’t sign it. Walk away, and hope he’ll marry you anyway—but with full knowledge that this may be the end of your relationship. 3. Negotiate a better result. I don’t like prenuptial agreements for a lot of reasons, but, most specifically, (and the one that’s resonating … [Read more...]
Student Loans and Divorce
Student loans are a reality of the world these days and, if you’ve got them, you’re definitely not alone. (In fact, you’re preaching to the choir.) In fact, these days, more people have student loans than don’t have them, and the average amount of debt each person carries is greater than ever before. It’s pretty staggering, in some cases, how much loan debt one person can carry. We can debate the ethics of lending so much money to students pursuing careers that will ultimately leave them unable … [Read more...]
He’s taking money out of our IRA! What should I do?
All sorts of different things spur women to take action in their divorce cases. One of the more common things I hear is that a husband has taken a withdrawal from an investment account, usually without wife’s knowledge. Usually, these women come in, panicked, thinking that because of their husband’s sneaky behavior that there’ll be less to distribute in the divorce. In some situations, that can be the case. It is possible that he has wasted enough of the assets, over a long enough period of … [Read more...]
“My” money in Virginia divorce
I hear all the time, from both sides, that one party or another paid for something with “their” money during the marriage—usually as a justification for why a particular asset shouldn’t be subject to division in the divorce but should, instead, revert back to the one who paid for it. "Well, it's my money anyway," I hear over and over. Separating what's "my" money and what's OUR money Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately, depending on which side of this issue you’re coming at it from), when it … [Read more...]
How DO we reach a settlement?
You probably already know, if you’ve been doing any kind of research on how divorce works in Virginia, that most cases these days are settled with a separation agreement. A separation agreement is, as you’ve probably already discovered, a legal contract that divides the assets and liabilities of the parties between them—somewhat “fairly” or “equitably.” It may not always be 50/50, but it’s usually (if we’re being honest here) somewhere pretty close to that. A separation agreement is one option … [Read more...]
What are my Virginia divorce rights?
Probably the question we get the most often, both in our initial consultations and at our Second Saturday seminars is this one: What exactly are my rights? It’s a vague question, and it isn’t one that has a simple answer, but I’m going to do my best to provide you as good of an answer as I can. I think the question most women are really getting at is “what am I entitled to receive?” or “what will I get in my divorce?” which is a little bit different. Still, I’m going to try to answer all … [Read more...]
