Category Archives: Divorce

Has the Tax Cuts and Job Acts taken the incentive away for divorcees to pay alimony?

Significant elements included in the legislation include a reduction in tax rates for both individuals and businesses. The bill also increased the standard deduction and family tax credits.

However, what the government gives, it also takes away. Specifically eliminated are the personal exemptions that reduced the benefits that come with itemizing deductions. For couples considering or pursuing divorce, they will feel a significant financial impact.

Signed into law at the end of 2018, the act replaces a previous statute where higher-earning spouses could deduct spousal support payments on tax filings. Conversely, the recipient had to claim it as a part of their taxable gross income.

Simply put, for divorces finalized in 2019 and beyond, alimony will no longer be deductible.

With the clock ticking, spouses are feeling the pressure to sign off on alimony agreements prior to enactment of the new law.

Payers no longer see any benefits to paying spousal support. Additionally, the common practice if splitting financial support payments between spouses and children will likely change. Essentially, it shifts the majority of money away from alimony with more going to child support to secure the tax credit.

Many see the new law as opening a floodgate of pressure for new and existing marital dissolutions to be finalized while financial benefits still exist.

Life begins at 50. The fifties are the new forties. All are common sayings reaffirming that age is but a number. Life-changing decisions remain an option as fifty-somethings stand at the gateway of their “golden years.”

“Til death do you part,” is also a well-known, if not growingly antiquated phrase. Longtime statistics have revealed the vow to be more of an unfulfilled promise uttered during a marriage ceremony. A significant percentage wind up permanently parting from their spouse.

While the seventies and eighties saw a surge in marital dissolutions, the past two decades saw a drop in divorces. However, one category continues to grow. The rate of couples 50 and older ending their marriages have doubled since the nineties.

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) can take many forms. Traumatic events for children from birth to age 17 can range from economic hardships to the deaths of their parents.

For far too many children, the ACE that created toxic levels of stress resulted from the divorce of their mothers and fathers.

Higher ACE scores are linked to children suffering from alcohol and drug abuse, obesity and overall poor physical health, depression and suicide. Some equate the effects of divorce or other horrific incidents to children suffering physical injuries or chronic illnesses.

The cost of dissolving a marriage in Arizona is about to go up to save the dissolution of a troubled state pension plan.

Last week, the House Banking and Insurance Committee voted to raise all court fees in a 7-1 vote. Fees to file for divorce will jump anywhere from $2 to $18, depending on the specific services soon-to-be ex-spouses required.

The “financial peril” of the state’s public-safety pension for politicians and judges is well documented with many calling it the worst performing n the United States. Higher court fees for marital dissolutions would help fund the woefully underfunded system that provides generous retirement packages in spite of being plagued with bad investments.

Ending a marriage is a monumental decision with significant fallout. In addition to the emotionally charged issues inherent in the martial dissolution process, money-related stress is top of mind for most couples when one household becomes two.

Simply stated, divorce carries a significant price, both personally and financially.

Little can spare soon to be exes the trauma of splitting assets following a breakup. However, proactive steps can provide a certain peace of mind in stabilizing a potentially shaky financial future.

When Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie announced their split in September of 2016, their fans were shocked and stunned. Stories began to emerge of their discord that led to a divorce filing. Devotees prepared themselves for the end, going through various stages of grief.Brangelina was dead.Not so fast.

While some are saying that they remain deep in divorce talks, others are claiming that the divorce is off after not moving it forward for several months.

In the span of ten days, Anthony Scaramucci got a new job, immediately found himself in trouble while doing his job, and subsequently losing his job. While he was compacting in a short time what most people take an entire career to “achieve,” a personal distraction for a man who became quickly known as a distraction himself became public.

In what was already a news-filled Friday for the White House “leakers” worst enemy, a different type of leak revealed that Scaramucci’s wife was ending their marriage.

One of the most famous of “celebrity divorces” actually changed the destiny of not only a famous couple, but also a royal lineage and an entire nation. The fairy tale wedding between Prince Charles and Princess Diana ended in anything but storybook fashion amidst allegations of infidelity by both husband and wife.

As the countdown to the 20th anniversary of Diana’s death in a car accident grows closer to August 31, the spotlight is returning to her and her now grown children. The commemoration will also revisit the circumstances surrounding the high-profile royal divorce finalized one year before the infamous car accident.

In 2014, actress Gwyneth Paltrow and musician Chris Martin announced the end of their marriage. Amidst the celebrity divorce proclamations that occurred during that time, this separation stood out because of divorce synonym that has become common parlance today.Conscious uncoupling.

The origin of a term that seems too good to be true goes beyond Paltrow’s proclamation. Relationship expert Katherine Woodward Thomas created a five-week program titled “Conscious Uncoupling,” before the Paltrow-Martin split. Her seminar promises to help divorcing couples “release the trauma of a breakup, reclaim your power, and reinvent your life.”