I have worked with men and women who were granted primary residential custody and those who were designated as alternative residential parent. I’ve seen families come up with pretty creative ways to keep some stability in their children’s lives, too, when it comes to custody arrangements. One of the less well-known strategies is called “nesting,” and it works like this:…
When you and your spouse get divorced in Tennessee, your marital assets – those assets, properties and debts which you accumulated during the course of your marriage, generally speaking – will be divided equitably by a family law court judge. Some couples choose to divide them up themselves, and have their divorce attorneys create marital dissolution agreements (MDAs) that detail…
I admit that I am as guilty as anyone of checking my phone all day long. I look at messages from my family, from my clients and from my office (when I’m not in), check the sports scores, and sneak in a game or two of Words With Friends when I have a few minutes to spare. I like actually…
Divorces, like weddings, are not all about the one “big day” when everything changes; rather, they take a lot of small but important decisions and moves in order to ensure that everything goes smoothly, and to make sure you and your children are protected. As a divorce attorney in Maryville, I help folks with more than just the paperwork, the…
WalletHub markets itself as a “one-stop destination for all the tools and information consumers and small business owners need to make better financial decisions and save money.” Since its inception on 2012, however, it has evolved a bit to include more than just reviews and listings. One of those changes was to incorporate some Gallup poll statistics and the findings…
When you and your spouse divorce in Tennessee, each of you will be entitled to a certain share of your assets and debts, and under most circumstances will be given equal access to your children. The one thing you are not guaranteed is alimony; spousal support is determined by a judge who has considered a number of factors. Unless you…
The AshleyMadison.com hack has been making headlines for the last couple of weeks, and we’re bound to hear more about it in the coming weeks as well. I think the release of information about site users teaches us a few valuable lessons, and not necessarily the ones you might think. First, it reminds us all how very vulnerable we are…
As of July 1, 2015, there is a new Tennessee divorce law that now requires Tennessee government pensions to be divided in two. Another new law requires account balances, accrued benefits, pensions, stock options and other fringe benefits and their appreciated value that were acquired prior to marriage be treated as separate property for the purposes of property division. State…
Americans are amassing a staggering amount of unsecured consumer debt. The average household credit card debit in the U.S. is about $15,706 according to Federal Reserve data. When a couple divorces, in addition to dividing their assets, the debt that they have accumulated during the course of the marriage must be allocated as well. Although the Tennessee statutes do not…
After all these years of practicing family law in Tennessee, I can say that I’ve heard a lot of similar questions. But there are a few questions that clients don’t always think to ask that I wish they would have, because it could have saved them a lot of heartache and aggravation. So rather than give you answers to questions…