The Micklin Law Group’s divorce attorneys representing male doctors have years of experience handling high profile, high stakes divorce cases swiftly and gracefully. We can help you keep important personal information out of the public record, including information about your medical practice, and keep business operating as usual for your patients during what could otherwise be a disruptive time.
Many divorcing men who are healthcare professionals come to us concerned about the division of their assets, how their practice will be handled, whether they’ll have to pay spousal maintenance or child support, and how custody of their child will be determined. Most of these concerns are shared among all men and fathers going through a divorce, but we address them differently with our physician clients to take into account the unique aspects of this career. When you choose The Micklin Law Group, LLC, you’ll work with a team of divorce attorneys in New Jersey who understand the rigors and benefits of your career – and how those qualities will factor into your divorce.
Division of Substantial Assets – Including Your Practice?
Divorce for male doctors often involves substantial assets; you work in a high paying career, so you may have accumulated cars, boats, and investment or vacation properties while you were married. It’s our job as a divorce attorneys for male doctors to determine which assets are “must-haves,” which are up for negotiation, and whether any assets are pre-marital and should be excluded from the division of your assets.
If you own your own practice, it is considered an asset in your divorce. Some things to consider: did you start your practice before or during your marriage? Do you have any partners at the practice who have partial ownership? Are you willing to consider selling your practice to keep other important assets?
Before you make any difficult decisions regarding your practice, make sure you have it properly appraised. Our attorneys for male doctors often see our clients’ spouses try to use the medical practice as a bargaining chip without actually realizing its current value. If we hadn’t worked with a third party appraiser before mediation, this would have spelled disaster for our clients. In reality, the value of a practice fluctuates, and it’s often not valuable enough to justify the excessive demands of the non-physician spouse.
When you contact our team you will be connected to a third-party appraiser.
New Jersey Alimony in Divorce for Male Physicians
Alimony is a concern for many men and fathers who are physicians as they go through their divorce. It’s possible your wife has chosen a less demanding career so you have more flexibility with your schedule, and in many cases the wives of male physicians quit pursuing their own career entirely to raise the couple’s children. When a divorce is imminent, these women often must reenter the workforce. They will sometimes request substantial alimony – either while they find a job, or so they aren’t required to work and can continue to stay home with the kids.
How you navigate alimony – also known as spousal support – is up to you and your lawyer for male doctors. You can bargain with your spouse using alimony, or you can request that it be completely taken off the table. The Micklin Law Group’s lawyers for male medical professionals will help you consider all your options.
New Jersey Child Custody Lawyers for Male Medical Professionals
Divorce attorneys for male doctors have seen our fair share of contentious custody battles. During such a high stakes divorce, things can get emotional quickly. It’s our job to help you show the family law courts that the custody arrangement you’re requesting is in the best interest of your child.
Any lawyer for male health professionals who has been practicing for years can tell you that wives and mothers have historically had a better chance at obtaining primary custody of their children in a divorce. However, custody trends have changed drastically as science has shown us the immense benefit of shared custody on a child’s development and emotional well-being. Now, many fathers are successfully receiving primary or joint custody of their children.
Even if you have a hectic schedule as a physician, it may still be in the best interest of your child to seek primary custody. When you work with The Micklin Law Group, your lawyer for male health professionals will help you determine the right custody arrangement for you and your child and will pursue that arrangement tenaciously, whether in mediation with your spouse or in court in front of a judge.
Learn more about complex custody issues for fathers.
Addressing Child Support As a Divorcing Male Physician
Child support is one area of physician divorce that is less often negotiated. Generally, a judge uses certain criteria to determine the amount of child support; it isn’t determined on a case-by-case basis. That being said, you can actually negotiate child support out of court to ensure both you and your child remain financially secure with your needs met.
If both you and your spouse agree to a certain child support amount, that can be written into your divorce agreement. You can also agree to forgo child support entirely and instead create an informal arrangement about who will pay for what. Some physicians are fine paying for all their child’s needs but would prefer to do so directly out of pocket. Others would like to reimburse their spouse for expenses incurred when the child is with that parent. Our divorce attorneys for male doctors will help you create a child custody plan that works for your family.
Learn More About Our Divorce Services for Physicians
If you are a man or father who is working as a medical professional and now faces a divorce, contact our experienced divorce attorneys for male physicians to learn how we can help. Our lawyers are thorough, tenacious, and assertive in mediation and in court. We understand the unique challenges you face as a divorcing physician and will tailor our services to suit your needs. Contact us by calling 973-562-0100 for our Nutley office or 862-245-4620 for our Montclair office.
Frequently Asked Questions
Although there are some important considerations for physicians to take into account during their divorce, the actual divorce process is no different whether your spouse is also a physician or not. You can attempt mediation to come to an agreement with your non-physician spouse regarding marital property, child, custody, etc., or you can let the court decide what’s fair. We recommend the former and believe it all but guarantees a better outcome for all parties in many cases.
If you are divorcing your spouse due to infidelity, you don’t need to prove she has been unfaithful to be granted the divorce. However, for physicians with prenuptial agreements, your spouse’s infidelity may affect how your property is divided in the divorce if you included an “infidelity clause” in the document.
A lawyer with experience in physicians’ divorces and other family law cases understands how substantial assets and an income disparity between spouses may affect your divorce. We know how to work with the other party and their attorney to come to an agreement that takes into account both spouses’ contributions to the marriage without jeopardizing your quality of life or financial standing.
Technically, you don’t need to hire an attorney for your divorce. However, your spouse will likely hire an attorney who can advise her using legal knowledge and experience you simply don’t have. There is also a specific procedure you must follow to get divorced as a physician in NJ, so it’s best to hire a lawyer who’s familiar with the process.
Our goal is to have your divorce affect your practice as little as possible. We may recommend you have your practice appraised so we’ll have an accurate value to use as we enter negotiations with your spouse. Most of our clients are not forced to sell their practice or share ownership with their ex. Maintaining your patients’ privacy is crucial during your divorce, but we’ll also work to keep confidential information about the practice itself out of the public record.
The courts use a set of criteria based on both parents’ income and the percentage of custody they have to determine what it considers a reasonable child support payment. If you don’t want the court to determine your child support payments, you and your co-parent can create your own guidelines together and present them to a judge.
It’s rare to find an attorney in New Jersey who focuses on men’s and fathers’ rights, and even more rare to find one who has experience working with physicians. The Micklin Law Group meets both of these criteria, so you can be sure you’re in good hands when you choose us to represent you in your divorce case as a male doctor.
The attorneys at The Micklin Law Group have been helping physicians get divorced for decades. We have experience in high asset, high conflict divorces and understand how your career can affect the outcome of your divorce. We’ll help you ensure your divorce is equitable and will never allow you to be taken advantage of.
How Doctors Can Make Their Divorce Easier
What to Do Financially When You’re A Doctor Getting A Divorce
Doctors facing divorce often fear the worst. In addition to the emotional impacts of divorce, they worry that their finances will be damaged beyond repair. Most physicians already work demanding schedules, so they may not be able to carve out any time to increase their income during and after the divorce – which is a problem […]
Don’t Throw Away That 2021 Calendar – It Could Be Helpful in Your Divorce
As we near the end of the year, most of us start looking to the future. We’re ready to move on from 2021 and see what the new year has in store. But if you’re considering a divorce after the holidays, there’s one item from 2021 you may not want to get rid of yet: […]
How Divorce Could Affect Your Medical Practice
If you’re a physician who owns a private practice, your livelihood depends on the continued success of your business. You may have gotten into your profession to help others, but you cannot continue with this goal unless you can “keep the lights on” at your practice. When divorcing as a medical professional in New Jersey […]
