The stresses placed on divorcing couples, who are making decisions about custody, spousal support, equitable distribution and parenting plans are not unlike those of air-traffic controllers, who are trying to safely land multiple jumbo jets coming in on multiple runways. Perhaps these aren’t life or death decisions, but that depends entirely on your perspective! I…
divorce and finances
Divorce Can Mean a Trip Down the Economic Ladder for Women
Divorce can be a one-way ticket down the road to financial instability for many women, especially for those who are middle class or low-income. It can mean a loss of work hours, more time (and expense) devoted to childcare and a cold slap in the face when it comes to finding a job or finishing…
9 Tips for Dividing Your 401(k) During a Divorce
Dividing a 401(k) for a divorce settlement is less painful when you know about the plan and take the right steps that ensure both people are satisfied. A 401(k) plan is marital property, just like other possessions that need to be divided. Here are nine ways you can handle assets in the plan during a…
Managing High Asset Divorces in Massachusetts
All divorces can be stressful and important to spouses facing a divorce. However, handling divorces with a high asset value has some additional inherent complexities that not all spouses, or even all attorneys, are aware of. When addressing high asset divorces, there are complicated issues that have to be addressed within alimony, property division, taxes,…
Dependency Tax Exemptions and Divorce
During the course of a divorce, there are many issues that spouses have to resolve: property division, alimony, child custody, child support, medical insurance, and taxes. One after thought of these many issues is the child dependency tax exemption. In a divorce, spouses can agree how to allocate the dependency tax exemption. For example, if…
Divorce and Taxes Can Be Complicated
Going through a divorce can be a dramatic and trying time. Issues such as division of property, custody of children and family support are huge. And the decisions made to resolve these issues have a tax impact. It is important to know how you will be affected and take steps to minimize your tax liability.…
Protecting Your Credit in a Divorce
It is not uncommon for married couples to have joint accounts, including joint credit cards. However, once married couples are involved in a divorce, they must decide how to apportion the credit card debt. At that time, each spouse should be looking to protect their credit as much as possible. In Massachusetts, each spouse’s credit…
Massachusetts Alimony Reform Act & Durational Limits
When the Massachusetts Alimony Reform Act went into effect in 2012, it provided for a payor spouse to file a Complaint for Modification to reduce or terminate his or her alimony obligation based upon durational limits, as further explained below. Rather than allowing spouses to file all at once in 2012, modification for only durational…
Postnuptial Agreements
Dear Clients and Friends, Properly executed pre-nuptial agreements have been enforceable for sometime in the state of Massachusetts. These agreements are entered into between the couple before they are married to protect assets each party had at the time of marriage. Here are Amaral & Associates, P.C., we prepare pre-nuptial agreements on a regular basis…
Weighing Divorce Options
What is the role of stock options in negotiating a divorce settlement? Far from being an academic question, the answer can actually determine the ownership of hundreds of thousands of dollars generated by the sale of appreciated stock acquired through company stock options. By specifying in the divorce settlement exactly how stock options will be…
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