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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

After the return date, your attorney can advocate for your best interests by filing requests with the court. These requests may be resolved by agreement or may require a hearing in front of the Judge. Such requests can be for alimony, bill payments, child custody, visitation, or other matters that should be addressed right away. Such Orders last for the period of the divorce proceedings until final judgment.  There are a number of  “standard” pendite lite motions which every divorce attorney files.  Many attorneys will customize these motions to fit your case.  If you have been served with a divorce, you may also have been served with these motions.  When you come for your free initial appointment, we will go over those motions with you and explain them all.

A Case Management Date, is not a date upon which the parties must appear in court unless they are disputing custody of their children. Instead, it is a date by which they must file a Case Management Agreement with the court, which is a form notifying the court about the status of the case and scheduling plans.   It is usually set by the clerk at 90 days after the return date.  It is often also the earliest date by which spouses can proceed with an uncontested final hearing and obtain their divorce. Frequently, mediated and collaborative divorces are settled and ready for an uncontested final hearing by the Case Management Date.

This Guide, authored by Lady Divorce, Attorney Marissa Bigelli, breaks down the parts of a divorce complaint, so the non-lawyer can understand what each portion means.  The divorce process starts with a complaint like this, and often the defendant in a divorce doesn’t know how to interpret the words and doesn’t already have a lawyers they can call.  Feel free to review this informative packet, and contact either LadyDivorce or Attorney Reiland for help.  Click here to download in pdf format:  Understanding a Connecticut Divorce Complaint – What it all means.

Thanks to television, movies and the Internet, the picture of a Police Officer or Private Investigator sitting for monotonous hours on surveillance is one with which we’re all familiar. In marriage dissolutions, those hours can pay dividends in terms of finding out the truth about a cheating spouse.

I have twenty-three years of Police experience – including seventeen as a Detective – and eleven more years as a licensed Private Investigator in CT. During those years, I’ve spent a great deal of time doing surveillances, particularly in divorce cases. It’s been my experience that intuition and instinct play a huge role when it’s time for you to decide whether or not you might want the services of a P.I. to ‘catch’ your significant other: if your ‘gut’ tells you that something is amiss, it usually is.

I have a number of associates who work with me on surveillances; I only employ former FBI Agents and Police Officers. There is no substitute for old-fashioned, boots-on-the-ground, grind-it-out surveillances, but there are a few key points to consider.

1. Trying to accomplish a successful surveillance with ONE investigator poses a risk to squander the client’s money. It’s much more effective with two or more operatives, since the chances of “losing” the subject of the surveillance is very high when one person alone tries to do it.
2. The use of GPS-type tracking devices is a myth many P.I.’s proffer to clients as a viable tool: in most cases, it’s illegal or unethical, with certain exceptions.
3. I provide either video or photographic evidence, and a picture IS worth a thousand words.
4. Unless you’re engaging the services of a P.I. simply to satisfy your own “need to know, for myself,” another myth about surveillance is that “catching” your significant other in a tryst after a legal separation has taken place has a significant impact on your court case: in most cases, it doesn’t once the couple has separated and are living apart.

In addition to surveillance, Barrett Investigations, LLC provides detailed ‘research’ via complex databases, access to computer forensics experts (when it’s legal to do so: there are certain rules), and clear, timely, and thorough written reports. More over, when the time arrives for court testimony, I and my associates have vast experience testifying.

If you think that the services of a licensed Private Investigator are what you need, please feel free to contact me through the Attorney Reiland. I will sit down with you and tailor an investigative plan for you, that takes into account your budget, and the initial consultation is at no charge.

Michael Barrett

Most people are law abiding citizens and follow court orders. If your spouse disobeys the court order (for example, the orders about custody, visitation, child support payments, health insurance, or selling property), you may ask the court to help enforce the order. You may first want to try to talk to your spouse and work out the problem. You may also ask a family relations counselor at your local court to help you try to mediate or solve the problem.

If you cannot work out the problem, you may ask a judge to enforce a court order by filing a written motion for contempt. A motion is a request in writing. Contempt is a court decision that someone disobeyed a court order on purpose. There is a Motion for Contempt ( JD-FM-173), which can be obtained from any Judicial District clerk’s office.

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.

One things that everyone facing or contemplating filing a divorce in Connecticut must understand is that the judge, after you file the divorce, will enter automatic orders in your case.  Many lawyers charge you for the filing of the paperwork associated with this – but the forms they use are used in every case!  All the lawyer needs to do is to change the name, and you wind up paying for the creation of these motions.  In basic terms, the automatic orders keep you or your future ex-spouse from taking on an debt or selling any assets of the family until the court determines how the divorce is paid out.  This means that if you have a jointly owned house, you cannot list that house for sale – nor can you damage the house to drive down the value – while the divorce is pending.  This is one reason why it pays to be prepared for a divorce and get your financials in order before you file. The automatic orders set for that:

Neither the plaintiff or defendant shall:

1.  Sell, mortgage, or give away any property without written agreement or a court order.

2.  Go into unreasonable debt by borrowing money or using credit cards or cash advances.

3.  Permanently take your children from Connecticut without written agreement or a court order.

4.  Take each other or your children off of any existing medical, hospital, or dental insurance policy or let any such insurance coverage expire.

5.  Change the terms or named beneficiaries of any existing insurance policy or let any existing insurance coverage expire, including life, automobile, homeowner’s or renter’s insurance.

6.  Deny use of the family home to the other person without a court order, if you are living together on the date the court papers are served.

Both the plaintiff and the defendant shall:

1.  Complete and exchange sworn financial affidavits within thirty days of the return date.

2.  Participate in a parenting education program within sixty days of the return date (if you share children under 18 years old).

3.  Attend a case management conference on the date specified on the reverse, unless you both agree on all issues and file a Case Management Agreement form with the court clerk on or before that date.

4.  Tell the other person in writing within forty-eight hours about your new address or a place where you can receive mail if you move out of the family home (if you share children under 18 years old).

5.  Help any children you share continue their usual contact with both parents in person, by telephone and in writing.

These orders are court orders and you can be found in contempt of court for not following them.

A fully contested divorce may include disputes over custody, visitation, property division and family support. The contest may be over one, several or all issues. The parties may engage in discovery over financial issues or even with respect to their parenting abilities and personal histories. If custody or visitation is disputed, studies may be conducted by court officers and/or private experts retained by each party. If finances are in dispute, expert appraisers and forensic accountants may be engaged by each party. Multiple court hearings, with both lawyers “on the clock”, may take place on matters such as temporary custody, visitation, alimony and child support. Depositions are often taken of both parties and other persons relevant to the litigation. Finally, a contested trial takes place with witnesses and experts testifying, leading to a decision on the contested issues by a Judge.

An uncontested divorce is one in which all issues have been agreed upon by the parties. The parties reduce their agreement to writing and it is presented to a Judge at the final hearing. An uncontested divorce can be achieved by the parties working on their own or through mediators and collaborative lawyers as well as lawyers working in the traditional context. Often times, cases which are contested on one or more issues end up being uncontested when the parties settle after a period of adversarial litigation. In fact, the vast majority of divorce cases are settled by agreement. But what occurs in the course of litigation prior to the settlement can be damaging to the family relationships and resources.

Connecticut adjudicates limited contested divorces when the only issues under dispute are financial and division of property. After a case management conference, the judge will counsel and issue orders.

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!