Divorce Costs Connecticut

CONTEMPLATING A BANKRUPTCY AFTER DIVORCE

Oftentimes Bankruptcy and Divorce go hand-in-hand. If you are in the process of getting divorced, it would be wise to consult a consumer attorney to analyze your financial circumstances, ensuring all of your obligations will be accounted for in the Divorce Decree/Separation Agreement, and to determine if you can handle paying them once you go back to a single income after the divorce. Bankruptcy may be a safe option once you are divorced if you find you cannot afford living on a single income.

If you will be taking the bulk of the debt once you separate and do not have the income to support it, you may consider filing for bankruptcy and starting over all together once the divorce is finalized. Here are some topics that often arise from divorce when contemplating a bankruptcy or may lead you to file for bankruptcy after your divorce:

1. Who will take the marital home and pay its related expenses?

If you are getting a divorce and taking over possession of the marital home, along with taking over the related expenses, especially the mortgage(s) on the home, be sure to have your Divorce Decree state the terms of this transfer accurately.

Also, making a budget before the divorce is final will help you determine if you will be able to afford to stay in the home.

If it is determined that you can, in fact, afford to live in the home after the divorce, then make sure the proper documents are recorded on the Land Records after the transfer. This will give you a paper trial you may need to provide in your bankruptcy case later on.

2. Will you be responsible for credit cards in your ex-spouses name?

If so, make sure the Divorce Decree/Separation Agreement spells out all debt you will be taking responsibility for once the divorce is final, along with the last four digits of any account numbers. Once the divorce is final, be sure to contact each company in writing and have the accounts switched into your name. Wait at least six weeks and then review your credit report(s) to ensure accurate reporting, so as not to inadvertently leave off a debt you are responsible for on your Bankruptcy petition, among other things.

3. Will you be ordered to pay alimony or child support?

Keep in mind, that these particular types of “debts” are allowable deductible expenses in your Bankruptcy case; this means that they are taken into consideration when qualifying for Bankruptcy. Also, it is important to note that court-ordered Alimony and Child Support are what is known in the Bankruptcy realm as “priority debts” and cannot be discharged in most cases. (Taxes and loans involving the government are also included in the priority category.) It is vitally important to have all obligations in this category fully defined and explained in your Divorce Decree/Separation Agreement, as you will likely be fulfilling these obligations regardless of ever filing for Bankruptcy.

Filing for bankruptcy after a divorce is not the end of the world. In fact, it may be the best thing that ever happened to you, and will help you to move on and start fresh.  For more information, visit my website LadyBankruptcy

In DeMaria v. DeMaria, 247 Conn. 715 (Feb. 16, 1999), the Supreme Court (Katz, J.) ruled that a provision to terminate alimony in the event of a recipient’s cohabitation must be interpreted in conjunction with the requirements of Conn. Gen. Stats. Section 46b-86(b). The statute allows the court to modify an alimony order on grounds that the recipient is “living with another person” only if the new living arrangement causes a change of circumstances so as to alter the financial needs of that party. The Supreme Court ruled that a trial court must evaluate the financial impact of the living arrangement regardless of the terms of the separation agreement and decree. A party seeking modification upon the ground of cohabitation must therefore plead and prove “altered financial needs.”

Basically, if your ex is now living with someone and you suspect they are getting financial support from them, your alimony can be reduced.  Please contact us for more information about getting a post-judgement alimony modification

The options for alimony are: (1) none, (2) $1.00 per year, (3) lump-sum alimony or (4) periodic alimony. If the divorce judgment provides for $1.00 per year, that figure give the court the authority to modify the amount in the future, if the legal requirements for modification are met. “Rehabilitative alimony” is transitional support awarded to one of the spouses during a period of education or training necessary to achieve self-sufficiency or make up for time that the spouse has been withdrawn from the workplace.  If you are awarded no alimony you cannot change that in the future based on circumstances.

Because alimony is deductible to the party who pays it, it is a device to shift the tax burden to the spouse who is likely in a lower tax bracket. Alimony is therefore an important divorce financial planning device.

Guardian ad Litems sometimes becomes necessary in cases when there is a child or children involved. In such cases, parents have typically each hired an attorney to represent his or her interest in a divorce or custody action. What about the child? If both parents believe that each should have primary custody of the child, how will the court determine what is actually in the best interest of the child? A Guardian ad litem can be appointed to a case by a Judge, or can be requested by an attorney/pro se party. Fees are typically charged by the hour and paid for by the parents.

A G.A.L. is a trained professional who represents the best interest of the child and makes recommendations to the court. This attorney does not work for either parent but works independently. The attorney will conduct home visits, speak with the child, therapists, both parents, and any additional parties who are involved in the life of the child to then paint a picture to the court as to what the child’s life is like and what would be in the child’s best interest.

Attorneys for the Minor Child are attorneys who represent the interests of the child or children. On rare occasions when there are several children with conflicting interests, separate attorneys will be appointed for each child. An attorney for a child is different from a guardian ad litem in one way: an attorney for the child represents what the child actually wants and such wants may not necessarily be in the child’s best interest. This attorney works for the child. Parents are responsible for paying for an attorney for the minor child. AMCs can be appointed by the court or requested by the attorney or parent.

Many women find themselves in a tough situation before filing for divorce.  They rely on their husband for income and help with the children, and they cannot file for divorce because they think they can’t afford to support themselves while the divorce is pending.  This is where an order of alimony and child support pendente  lite can be filed.  Pendente Lite is Latin for “Pending Litigation.” An order for alimony and child support pendente lite means that your spouse will be ordered by the court to pay you the statutory child support amount (Connecticut Divorce Child Support Guidelines) during the pendency of the divorce before it is final. The order can also grant you pre-divorce alimony so you can afford to live on your own as well.  Finally, you can have the court enter and order giving you possession of the marital home while the case is pending, This way you have the money you need and a place to live while the divorce is pending.  We can file these motions when we file the divorce action for you, and it can mean that you are safe and secure and can afford to live while your divorce is pending.  You are not trapped by your husband’s wallet!

Lawyers certainly don’t want to be called “dogs.”  Nobody does, but the way traditional legal fees have been earned in Divorce cases certainly makes for an easy analogy.  A dog can be man’s best friend or a destructive force.  So can your divorce lawyer.  First, let us “bone up” on Pavlov’s Dogs.

The Russian scientist Ivan Pavlov was born in 1849.  He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1904. He was studying the laws on the formation of conditioned reflexes.

From NobelPrize.org:

While Ivan Pavlov worked to unveil the secrets of the digestive system, he also studied what signals triggered related phenomena, such as the secretion of saliva. When a dog encounters food, saliva starts to pour from the salivary glands located in the back of its oral cavity. This saliva is needed in order to make the food easier to swallow. The fluid also contains enzymes that break down certain compounds in the food. In humans, for example, saliva contains the enzyme amylase, an effective processor of starch.

Pavlov became interested in studying reflexes when he saw that the dogs drooled without the proper stimulus. Although no food was in sight, their saliva still dribbled. It turned out that the dogs were reacting to lab coats. Every time the dogs were served food, the person who served the food was wearing a lab coat. Therefore, the dogs reacted as if food was on its way whenever they saw a lab coat.

In a series of experiments, Pavlov then tried to figure out how these phenomena were linked. For example, he struck a bell when the dogs were fed. If the bell was sounded in close association with their meal, the dogs learnt to associate the sound of the bell with food. After a while, at the mere sound of the bell, they responded by drooling.

Source:  http://nobelprize.org/educational/medicine/pavlov/readmore.html

Now, how does this impact legal fees in Divorce cases?

Seemingly, every client who walks through the door is an opportunity for a lawyer or law firm to make money.  That’s OK, that is the business we lawyers are in.  I don’t think anyone has a problem with it.  Unlike the shopkeeper who sells goods, lawyers sell their time and knowledge.  Now, when a client comes in to deal with a divorce they usually have 2 mindsets.  First are the “I just want this over with” client.  They just want out of their marriage, and are there to go through the legal steps to settle the end of the marriage through the court system.  Then there are the “I want to punish him/her” clients.  These clients often want to end the marriage AND inflict the most financial and emotional damage to their soon-to-be ex spouse.  These clients can be a lawyer’s dream.  Lawyers, like Pavlov’s dogs, salivate when these clients come in.  You see in most cases, for every minute that a lawyer talks to you, they are billing you.  They keep track of their hours, in six minute increments, and deduct that time from the retainer you placed with them.  You want to call and lecture them on all the bad things that she or he did in April 2004?  Great.  Start the clock and start talking.  These lawyers know the system.  They know the bills keep running even if the retainer gets exhausted.  They know they can sue you, or get paid out of the proceeds of the sale of the family home.  They can even get a judgment against you that negatively impacts your credit history, handcuffing you while you are trying to start a new life.  And it all comes back to disclosure.  At the beginning you signed or were given an outline of the legal fees, but in your passion to get the ball rolling, you gave them a couple thousand dollar retainer and put them to work.  You never bothered to read how the fees were calculated.  You didn’t realize that talking to a lawyer like she is a friend also meant you were paying for that time.  Most lawyers are nice people, and won’t shut down an obviously upset client, but they also don’t have counseling skills that you might need, and they should spend their time working on your legal problems – since that is what you need them for!  The longer they talk to you, the more money their earn for passive work.  You talk, they listen and you pay!  It is not unusual for attorneys to take a $2500-$5000 retainer and use that money up within the first 2 weeks of representation.  They keep the clock running, and in the end, you get presented with a $10,000, $20,000 or even $50,000 bill!  Now, when faced with this scenario it is in a lawyer’s best financial interest to have the “punish them” client and not the “I want this over with client” because the first earns them more money!  For an easy way of determining how much money is wasted, try visiting  www.lawyerclock.com and inputting your lawyers hourly rate for even the simplest 15 minute phone conversation and watch the money pile up!

If you are talking to lawyers about your divorce, don’t ask them about their “retainer” fees.  Ask them the average billing for the last 10 clients that look like your case.  Make them put it in writing.  Ask for name of former clients and call them and ask about the fee.  A lawyer with a good relationship with his or her former client shouldn’t have a problem with this.  Search for the lawyers name on court online docket sheets and see if they have sued a lot of clients for fees.  This might give you an example of lawyers who keep the clock running too long.

The best choice in this situation is to find a flat fee or limited flat fee billing structure.  We do that, but we aren’t the only lawyers who do.  Talking to a flat fee divorce lawyer in Connecticut can, at the very least, give you an idea of the number of hours that are needed to effectively handle your divorce so you can budget properly.  If you go with an hourly billing lawyer, tell them you want monthly statements of the time expended, rather than a final accounting, so you can watch the dollars and cents and not exceed your budget.

Don’t get bit by the dog!