Unboxing Divorce
What’s involved in a divorce anyway? A lot of people ask us that when they come into my office. I’m Katherine Miller. I’ve been a divorce attorney in New York City and Westchester County, New York, for over 30 years. Today, I’m going to unbox divorce.
Divorce essentially involves three big areas:
Area Number One: Parenting Plan (if you have children under the age of 18)
This is separate from financial issues and includes two main components:
- Time Sharing: Where will the kids be and when? How will you share special time such as holidays, vacations, and birthdays? How will you share regular time like weekdays, weekends, and summer vacations?
- Decision Making: This involves major decisions about the children’s lives, such as education, healthcare, therapy, driving, curfews, tattoos, and piercings. It does not include everyday decisions like what’s for dinner or what color socks they’ll wear.
Area Number Two: Assets and Liabilities
This involves identifying what you have, what you owe, and how you will divide these. It includes:
- The house (if you own it)
- Retirement plans
- Other assets and debts that need to be addressed
Area Number Three: Cash Flow
This area includes:
- Alimony (maintenance in New York): Understanding what it costs to live your life as you’ve been living it, how you’ve been making those payments, and how it will look living separately. Will there be cash flow between you to cover these expenses? How long will it last, and how much will it be?
- Child Support: Ensuring financial support for the children
Additionally, there are other important areas like life insurance, estate planning, and income taxes that also need to be addressed.
In future videos, I will unbox each one of these areas in more detail. If you’re interested in learning more about unboxing divorce, subscribe to my YouTube channel so you won’t miss a thing.
Thanks for listening.