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South Dakota divorce laws and child support and alimony laws

Thursday, December 15th, 2011  
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In order to file for a divorce in South Dakota, residency requirements must be met for the court to accept the case. If the court discovers it does not have jurisdictional rights to hear the case it will not be accepted or it will eventually be dismissed. The requirements are as follows:

The plaintiff in an action for divorce or separate maintenance must, at the time the action is commenced, be a resident of this state, or be stationed in this state while a member of the armed services, and in order that each party be entitled to the entry of a decree or judgment of divorce or separate maintenance, that residence or military presence must be maintained until the decree is entered. The divorce may be filed in the county in which either spouse resides. The defendant has a legal right to have the case transferred to his or her county if desired. There is also a 60 day waiting period that must elapse after the date of filing before the divorce will be granted.

Grounds for Filing:
The Complaint for Divorce must declare the appropriate South Dakota grounds upon which the divorce is being sought. The appropriate lawful ground will be that which the parties agree upon and can substantiate, or that which the filing spouse desires to prove to the court. The divorce grounds are as follows:

Grounds for divorce.
Divorces may be granted for any of the following causes:

  1. No-Fault: Irreconcilable differences.
  2. Fault: (1) Adultery; 2) Extreme cruelty; (3) Willful desertion; (4) Willful neglect; (5) Habitual intemperance; (6) Conviction of felony;

Definitions

  1. Extreme cruelty defined. Extreme cruelty is the infliction of grievous bodily injury or grievous mental suffering upon the other, by one party to the marriage.
  2. Willful desertion defined–Special conditions applicable. Willful desertion is the voluntary separation of one of the married parties from the other with intent to desert.
  3. Adultery defined. Adultery is the voluntary sexual intercourse of a married person with one of the opposite sex to whom he or she is not married.

Filing Spouse Title: Plaintiff. The Plaintiff is the spouse who initiates the filing procedure with the family law or domestic relations court.

Non-Filing Spouse Title: Defendant. The Defendant is the spouse who does not file the initial divorce papers, but rather receives them by service.

Court Name: State of South Dakota, County of __________, In the Circuit Court, __________ Judicial District. This is the South Dakota court where the divorce will be filed. The court will assign a case number and have jurisdictional rights to facilitate and grant the orders concerning, but not limited to: property and debt division, support, custody, and visitation. The name of the court is clearly represented at the top of all documents that are filed.

Primary Documents: Complaint for Divorce and Decree of Divorce.
These are the essential documents needed to start and finalize a divorce according to South Dakota law. There are anywhere from ten to twenty other documents that may be required throughout the filing process. A few other documents that are typically filed during the process are: Verification, Marital Settlement Agreement, Affidavit of Proof for Stipulated Judgment, Financial Affidavit, and Notice of Final Hearing.

Court Clerk’s Title: Office of the Clerk of the County Circuit Court.
The clerk or the clerk’s assistants will be the people managing your paperwork with the court. The clerk’s office will keep the parties and the lawyers informed throughout the process in regards to additional paperwork that is needed, further requirements, and hearing dates and times.

Child Custody: When minor children are involved in a divorce, the South Dakota courts will do everything possible to help lessen the emotional trauma the children may be experiencing. If the parents cannot come to an agreement regarding the issues involving the children, the court will establish the custody order at its discretion.

The court will award sole or joint custody based on the standards of what is in the best interests of the children. The court will consider the following; marital misconduct only if it is relevant to the further well being of the child; the child wishes depending on age and maturity; and the expressed desires of the parents. The court will not discriminate based on the parents gender.

Any agreement by the parties for visitation other than the standard guidelines shall be in writing, signed by both parties and filed with the court. The agreed plan shall be approved by court order and replace the standard guidelines or any plan previously filed.

Child Support: South Dakota child support guidelines are based on the Income Shares Model for calculating child support. The monthly support amount determined by applying the guidelines is divided proportionally according to each parent’s income. These two support amounts are then offset to establish which parent will pay the other parent for support of the child. All income is typically verified by examining past W-2′s and child support worksheets are available at the courthouse.

Child support is determined by the state guidelines, which is based primarily on the income of each parent. Income is defined as follows: (1) Compensation paid to an employee for personal services, whether salary, wages, commissions, bonus, or otherwise designated; (2) Self-employment income including gain, profit, or loss from a business, farm, or profession; (3) Periodic payments from pensions or retirement programs, including social security or veteran’s benefits, disability payments, or insurance contracts; (4) Interest, dividends, rentals, royalties, or other gain derived from investment of capital assets; (5) Gain or loss from the sale, trade, or conversion of capital assets; (6) Unemployment insurance benefits; (7) Worker’s compensation benefits; and (8) Benefits in lieu of compensation including military pay allowances.

If the income of the parents is derived from seasonal employment, or received in payments other than regular, recurring payments, such income shall be annualized to determine a monthly average income.

If a child’s needs are not being met through the income of the parents, assets shall be considered. If the parents have savings, life insurance or other assets in amounts unrelated to income, these holdings shall be considered. The parents’ ability to borrow may be used to determine financial ability.
Property Distribution:
Since South Dakota is an “equitable distribution” state, the marital property shall be divided in an equitable fashion. Equitable does not mean equal, but rather what is fair. The court will encourage the parties to reach a settlement on property and debt issues otherwise the court will declare the property award.

When a divorce is granted and the parties have not agreed otherwise, the courts may make an equitable division of the property belonging to either or both, whether the title to such property is in the name of the husband or the wife. In making such division of the property, the court shall have regard for equity and the circumstances of the parties.

Fault shall not be taken into account with regard to the awarding of property, except as it may be relevant to the acquisition of property during the marriage.

The courts will consider the following factors when making a property award upon divorce; the contribution each spouse had to the acquisition of the marital property; the value of each spouses separate property; the amount of time the spouse have been married; the age and health condition of each spouse; the current and future earning capacity of each spouse; and the value of the property being distribution as well as the income potential of that property.

Restoration or Name Change: Whenever a decree of divorce is granted, the trial court may, in its discretion or upon the application of either party by the terms of the decree, restore to the woman her maiden name or the name she legally bore prior to her marriage to the husband in the divorce suit.
Spousal Support: Not all cases involve support from one spouse to the other. The obligation of one spouse to support the other financially for a temporary or permanent basis is decided on a case-by-case basis as agreed to by the parties or at the court’s discretion.

Allowance for support when divorce granted. Where a divorce is granted, the court may compel one party to make such suitable allowance to the other party for support during the life of that other party or for a shorter period, as the court may deem just, having regard to the circumstances of the parties represented; and the court may from time to time modify its orders in these respects. The factors the court will consider when establishing a support award are as follows; the length of the marriage; the financial repercussions of each spouse; the financial resources of each spouse; the age of the spouses; the health condition of the spouses; and the marital fault that caused the divorce if any.

The department shall enforce the support obligation due to a spouse or former spouse who is living with his or her child, but only if a support obligation has been established for the spouse and the child support obligation is being enforced.

Counseling or Mediation Requirements: If it appears that there is a reasonable possibility of reconciliation, the court shall continue the proceeding for a period not to exceed thirty days. During the period of the continuance, the court may enter any order for the support and maintenance of the parties, the custody, support, maintenance, and education of the minor children of the marriage, attorney fees, and for the preservation of the property of the parties. At any time after the termination of the thirty-day period, either party may move for the dissolution of the marriage or a legal separation, and the court may enter its judgment decreeing the dissolution or separation.

State Abbreviation SD
Statehood November 2, 1889
State Capital Pierre
Number of Counties 66
State Population (2005) 775,933
State Quarter Issue Date November 6, 2006
State Flower American pasqueflower
Nickname Mount Rushmore State, Coyote State
State Flag South Dakota State Flag
Area Codes 605
Top 5 Cities (2000 population)
Sioux Falls 123,975
Rapid City 59,607
Aberdeen 24,658
Watertpwm 20,237
Brookings 18,504
Major Sports Teams None
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Divorce is not pretty. It doesn’t take a psychology degree to see such a simple truth.

Tuesday, September 27th, 2011  
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“When two people decide to get a divorce, it isn’t a sign that they don’t understand one another, but a sign they have, at last, begun to.” – Helen Rowland

Divorce is not pretty. It doesn’t take a psychology degree to see such a simple truth. When two people who thought they would spend the rest of their lives together decide to part ways, there is anger, resentment and loss. While there has been a significant amount of attention paid to
how women handle the depression and other negative effects of divorce, little attention has been focused on how men react as a result of ending a marriage.

In 2008, it was estimated that almost 40% of marriages ended in divorce. The statistics for second marriages are even worse. Lives are changed. And while it seems the focus is on men who leave, the fact is that the majority of divorces are filed by women. No one disputes that divorce is
hard on everyone.

In general, men are defined by more than just their status in a marriage. No one scoffs at a lifelong bachelor (just consider the terms:  achelor and old maid? Who’s getting judged, just by words alone?). A man who doesn’t want children isn’t viewed the same way a woman would be. Rather, a man finds meaning in his relationships, but also in the car he drives, the sports he plays, but most of all, by the job he performs. Losing a wife is painful, but studies have demonstrated that divorce causes less anxiety and stress for a man than unemployment does.

In contrast to losing a job, men do not suffer the depression in a divorce that they do in unemployment. After a divorce, a woman’s standard of living drops by 73%. Her ex-husband, on the other hand? His standard of living increases by 42%. It’s going to get a whole lot better soon.

A man gets divorced. Now what? He still has his job. Men find their identity through their work.  Thousands of years ago, men hunted to put food on the family table. They cleared land and built homes. Men were craftsmen, shopkeepers, doctors, and law men. They raised crops and livestock to feed the nation. Maybe you’re saying goodbye to one kind of life, but you’re still putting food on the table.

Remember, there is always someone worse off than the recently divorced male. Take the workers at the ArcelorMittal steel plant in Lackawanna, New York, just south of Buffalo that closed in 2009.  Within three months of the announcement, two men had died of heart attacks and one found
himself recovering from angioplasty in which three stents were placed in his heart. Losing your wife or losing your life? Neither is an appealing option, but living most certainly trumps dying on any given day. Of course, nobody lives their life dreaming of the day they’ll serve their divorce papers, at the end of the day, losing your wife isn’t as bad as losing your job.

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Minnesota divorce laws and child support and alimony laws

Thursday, June 30th, 2011  
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First of all it’s helpful to know what Minnesota considers grounds for divorce

Each state has unique grounds in which a dissolution of marriage may be granted by the court. When choosing the grounds for your dissolution of marriage, you should always remember that you must have sufficient proof to the court that your marital situation warrants a dissolution of marriage by the grounds you are requesting.

Grounds for Filing: The Petition for Dissolution of Marriage needs to declare the appropriate Minnesota grounds upon which the dissolution of marriage is being sought. The appropriate lawful ground will be that which the parties agree upon and can substantiate, or that which the filing spouse desires to prove to the court of law.

The dissolution of marriage grounds are as follows:

1. An irretrievable breakdown of the marriage relationship. An irretrievable breakdown of the marriage relationship is achieved by living separate and apart for at least 180 days or serious marital discord adversely affecting the attitude of the husband, wife, or both towards the marriage.

(Minnesota Statutes – Chapters: 518.06, 158.13)

Minnesota Divorce Laws & Child Support & Child Custody Laws

Custody must be decided when minor children are involved in a divorce. Physical custody is where the child actually lives, while legal custody is the right of both parents to make decisions regarding major events in the child’s life including religion and education. The spouses are encouraged to create a parenting plan that addresses visitation rights, including where the child will spend major holidays and special occasions, and how the parents intend to resolve disputes about the child. The court may have input on the parenting plan; it will consider these issues:

  • the wishes of the parents and the child, if the child is old enough to voice their opinion
  • the relationship already established between the child and parent, including who was the primary caregiver during the marriage
  • the relationship with siblings and where they live
  • the child’s adjustment to their home, school, and community
  • the stability of the child’s current living situation and whether that should be continued, including if they live in the marital home
  • the ability of the parents to show love and affection to the child
  • cultural backgrounds
  • and the willingness of the parent to encourage the child’s relationship with the other parent.

When considering joint custody, the court will determine if the parents are able to cooperate and settle disputes, if it is in the best interest of the child to have equal time with both parents, and any history of domestic abuse. In Minnesota, the court can require parenting classes at any time. Grandparents can be granted visitation rights when necessary if it is beneficial to the child.

Minnesota uses the percentage of income formula to calculate child support amounts. The incomes of both parents are combined and then the court calculates the percentage that each parent is responsible for. Adjustments are made for health insurance or child care costs.

Other factors including when determining child support include: all financial resources of both parents, including income, property, or investments; any debts of the parents, especially those that were acquired during the marriage to support the family; any special needs of the child that could be costly; a reasonable standard of living for the child; any other children the parents support; and which parent claims the child as a dependent on tax returns. Both parents may determine amounts to contribute to an education fund for the child’s future.

Alimony Guidelines.
The alimony order shall be in amounts and for periods of time, either temporary or permanent, as the court deems just, without regard to marital misconduct, and after considering all relevant factors including the following guidelines:

1. The financial resources of the party seeking alimony, including marital property apportioned to the party, and the party’s ability to meet needs independently, including the extent to which a provision for support of a child living with the party includes a sum for that party as custodian;

2. The time necessary to acquire sufficient education or training to enable the party seeking alimony to find appropriate employment, and the probability, given the party’s age and skills, of completing education or training and becoming fully or partially self-supporting;

3. The standard of living established during the marriage;

4. The duration of the marriage and, in the case of a homemaker, the length of absence from employment and the extent to which any education, skills, or experience have become outmoded and earning capacity has become permanently diminished;

5. The loss of earnings, seniority, retirement benefits, and other employment opportunities forgone by the spouse seeking alimony;

6. The age, and the physical and emotional condition of the spouse seeking alimony;

7. The ability of the spouse from whom alimony is sought to meet needs while meeting those of the spouse seeking alimony; and

8. The contribution of each party in the acquisition, preservation, depreciation, or appreciation in the amount or value of the marital property, as well as the contribution of a spouse as a homemaker or in furtherance of the other party’s employment or business.

State Abbreviation MN
Statehood May 11, 1858
State Capital St. Paul
Number of Counties 87
State Population (2005) 5,132,799
State Quarter Issue Date April 4, 2005
State Flower Lady slipper
Nickname North Star State, Gopher State, Land of 10,000 Lakes
State Flag Minnesota State Flag
Area Codes 218, 320, 507, 612, 651, 763, 952
Top 5 Cities (2000 population)
Minneapolis 382,618
St. Paul 287,151
Duluth 86,918
Rochester 85,806
Bloomington 85,172
Major Sports Teams MLB: Minnesota Twins
NFL: Minnesota Vikings
NBA: Minnesota Timberwolves
NHL: Minnesota Wild



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Marriage Success Related to How Long you Dated

Tuesday, April 11th, 2006  
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“You can have a happy marriage after any length courtship,” says Ted Huston, Ph.D., professor of human ecology and psychology at the University of Texas. However, not every tempo is created equal. Huston has spent 15 years studying the relationship between courtship length and marital success and has found that the closer a couple’s courtship is to average length (two years, four months), the more successful the union.
While both very fast and very slow to marry couples are more likely to divorce than couples with an average-length courtship, the whirlwind pairs tend to remain married longer than the feet-draggers, staying hitched more than seven years on average. Why? “They start off on such an emotional high of passion that they’re reluctant to give it up when problems arise,” Huston says. The drawn-out-courtship couples, on the other hand, “often hope marriage will improve their relationship, and when it doesn’t, they quickly conclude it isn’t going to work,” he says.

If You Dated Less Than One Year
Who plunges into marriage after dating a year or less? Couples who marry quickly fall into one of two camps: Some are ultra-passionate and impulsive pairs, who top a torrid romance with rushed nuptials; the others are pragmatic, cut-to-the-chase couples, who may be on a timetable (due, say, to a biological clock), explains Tina Tessina, Ph.D., author of How to Be a Couple and Still Be Free (New Page, 2002). “In successful instances, they’re clear about what they want and have the communication skills to find out quickly if the other person feels the same,” says Tessina.
Wanna guess which of these two types of pairs you’re more likely to see in divorce court? Yep, the couple who couldn’t keep their hands off each other. “The more passionate the courtship, the less likely the marriage is to last,” says Huston. After an overly idyllic courtship, these couples end up disillusioned, which often leads to marital problems. Another challenge for superfast couples is that “you’re marrying in the ‘honeymoon stage,’ when you see each other with rose-colored glasses, and the other can do no wrong,” says Catherine Burton, M.A., a marriage and family therapist in Dallas. However, couples who move quickly because they’ve found someone with standout-spouse qualities — being even-tempered, respectful and thoughtful — tend to have strong marriages.

If You Dated One to Three years
Couples who cruise through courtship at an average speed are most likely to be easygoing and levelheaded. Your stint as boyfriend and girlfriend lacked the drama that delays nuptials and the impetuousness that leads to presto engagements. You’re way more moderate, which may not make for the wildest stories, but “you don’t need so much drama in a marriage,” notes Huston. “Couples who dated one to three years before marrying develop an easy romantic friendship during their courtship. If you see it as a friendship, you miss the important romance element, but if you see it as a romance, you miss the essential friendship part.”
An ordinary courtship often precedes an extraordinary marriage, says Huston. Couples who progress at a steady pace tend to have sweet, low-key courtships followed by close and harmonious marriages. Unlike the speed daters, you’ve had the benefit of testing the waters with each other through key stages and you’ve had time to realize just how much you can lean on your partner.

If You Dated More Than Three Years
Fun- and freedom-lovers often end up taking it slow. Chances are that the two of you enjoy partying and traveling with your friends and prefer group outings to romantic date nights. But another type of couple can be slow to wed: That would be cautious folks (often because of being burned in the past). And the fact is, that’s not a bad thing, say the experts. “If you really want to know a person’s true nature, watch his actions over time,” says Burton. If you aren’t gun-shy and didn’t meet young, though, there’s a chance you’ve had a rocky relationship or a commitment issue slowing you down.
Okay, you already know the bad news: The slowest to marry tend to be the quickest to split. Huston found that pairs who had a long and tumultuous courtship (in other words, not merely drawn out but also full of drama) tended to be “early exiters,” divorcing within a few years of marriage. Why would couples who moved so cautiously toward the altar be so quick — and decisive! — about throwing in the towel? “It turns out that one of the main reasons for a long courtship is a deep ambivalence about marriage itself or about the person they’re marrying,” says Huston. And if you lived together, the cards may be more stacked against you. “Recent research has found that couples who lived together have a higher divorce rate than those who didn’t,” says Burton. The possible reason, she speculates, is that living together may create a template of sorts for a relationship with no commitment.

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Marriage & Divorce – The Facts

Monday, February 6th, 2006  
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The National Center for Health Statistics recently released a report which found that 43
percent of first marriages end in separation or divorce within 15 years. About 50% of first marriages for men under age 45 may end in divorce, and between 44 and 52% of women’s first marriages may end in divorce for these age groups. The likelihood of a divorce is lowest for men and women age 60, for whom 36% of men and 32 percent of women may divorce from their first marriage by the end of their lives.

According to the Center for Disease Control’s National Vital Statistics Report of 2002, 50% of first marriages ended in divorce and 60% of remarriages end in divorce. But, the Center for Disease Control also found that 96% of Americans express a personal desire for marriage, and almost three-quarters of Americans believe marriage is a life long commitment.

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