Alimony is one of the least understood aspects of a divorce, especially as times change and many women have become the primary breadwinner in their marriage. Of course, no one wants to pay alimony, but it may be a reality if there’s a large difference in income between you and your spouse. Alimony payments can be costly and add up over time, so most men would like to avoid it if possible. In this post we’ll discuss how keeping track of your debt during marriage can help you avoid paying alimony in your divorce, and you’ll be on your way to keeping more of your hard earned money.
Pay Attention to Who is Responsible for Debt Payment
This goes a little bit into why I recommend prenups; without everything financial being transparent, people just assume that everything is working out. Often, people just think there’s plenty of money – especially if they aren’t in charge of monitoring finances. This often occurs in the most egregious of situations where there’s a spouse who’s responsible for payment of the expenses and they don’t make the payments. It’s often the mortgage, car payment, or another shared debt. I’ve even seen a client who came to me and explained that he hadn’t paid the mortgage, the house went into foreclosure and they lost it, and his wife still didn’t know that fact. It can easily happen if the person handling the finances overlooks things. Since a lot of statements are electronic, you’re often not even getting mail. So if you’re not in charge of the finances, you can’t even see that there’s a problem coming in every month.
There are significant problems that develop when you just simply trust that your spouse is capable of handling the bills. It may not be malfeasance or pre-divorce planning; it may be just bad planning. It may be that they were hoping that it got better, or they were ashamed that they couldn’t pay it, or they have a spending problem. There could be countless reasons why one spouse creates a terrible financial situation for the other, and it can and will often destroy the marriage. It’s often what leads to divorces. One of the greatest causes of divorces is financial problems. If you are unaware of how your money is getting spent, you’re leaving yourself more vulnerable to things like alimony if you get divorced. It’s never a good situation to be in when you walk into negotiations and don’t have the information you need to actually negotiate alimony.
Avoiding Your Tax Returns?
It’ll be much better if you read the tax returns and learn what they mean. Tax returns aren’t as complicated as they seem. There are just a lot of pages that often have no relevant information, so there are really about three pages in a tax return that are significant. If you take the time to read them or have somebody teach you what they represent, you can understand what you have, what you owe, and what you earn. Just don’t turn the finances over and assume that it’s going to work.
Do you have questions about divorce, or would you like to create a prenuptial agreement because you’re worried about having to pay alimony? Contact our office for a consultation. The Micklin Law Group’s attorneys focus on men and fathers who are going through a divorce. Husbands are often more worried about having to pay alimony than their wives; this is likely because men have traditionally been the ones to pay alimony. However, times have changed, and there are many completely lawful things we can do to help you avoid paying alimony. You can schedule a consultation by giving us a call at 973-562-0100.
