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Aside from infidelity and irreconcilable differences, financial issues often top the list of reasons why married couples file for divorce. In fact, one survey found that as much as 53 percent of Americans admitted to financial infidelity—the act of hiding their spending from their spouse. And while it may seem that women are often portrayed as irresponsible spenders, the problem affects both sexes pretty evenly.

It’s no surprise then why many divorced couples often have problems sorting out their mortgage and end up facing foreclosure, a situation further compounded by a divorce. Below are a few of things you need to watch out for when fixing your mortgage after a breakup.

On Transferring Interest and Liability

During a divorce, both parties may agree to have one spouse transfer his or her interest in the home to the other. However, while it may seem that this arrangement relieves the transferring spouse of any liability for mortgage payments, this is not actually the case.

If the house was listed under both spouses’ names, transferring interest of the property will not remove a spouse from mortgage liability. From the bank’s perspective, both spouses are still required to ensure the make timely mortgage payments, regardless of whose name is on the deed.

On Unpaid Mortgages

Should you or your ex-spouse fail to pay your mortgage, the bank will file a foreclosure against you and your ex, which will negatively affect both your credit scores. Worse, you could face a deficiency judgment, which orders payment of any deficiency between the remaining balance on the mortgage and the price the property sold for after being foreclosed.

Obviously, this is a nasty surprise for unsuspecting spouses still recovering from the cost of a divorce, only to find themselves dealing with a foreclosure for a house they no longer live in, much less own.

Solutions for Divorcing Spouses

During the divorce proceedings, it’s important that divorcing spouses put aside their differences and work towards a mutually beneficial arrangement that will insulate them from mortgage problems and fear of foreclosure.

Below are a few possible solutions:

Assumption: Should one spouse choose to continue living in the marital home, that person can assume the mortgage, taking over any responsibility for making future payments. This would release the other spouse from any mortgage liability.

Refinancing: The spouse who opts to stay in the property can also refinance the mortgage, which, just like an assumption, relieves the other spouse from liability. However, refinancing means that the spouse in question can only use his or her own credit to qualify.

Sell the House: When it comes right down to it, the safest thing you can do during a divorce is to sell your home. If you have equity, sell it and split the profits.
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Divorce can be a traumatic time for children, often resulting in long-term emotional and psychological complications. To cope with these problems, more divorced couples are turning to new approaches to remedy a broken home.

One such trend involves children still staying in the same home they grew up in, with the parents taking turns moving in and out of the house to spend time with their kids. This arrangement has come to be known as “nesting” or “birds-nesting,” a reference to how some species of birds also take turns to tend to their offspring in the nest.

But is nesting a viable option for your family? Before anything else, there are several factors to consider.

Property Division, Support, and Taxes

For starters, you have the legal implications of this arrangement. In some states, ex-spouses might not be considered separated if they engage in the practice of nesting. When this happens, your property division arrangement and support orders might be compromised.

Aside from the alimony issues that come from the sharing of a home, you also need to consider the tax issues that may come up when you decide to sell it in the future.

Financial Issues

You also have to consider the financial burden of nesting. On top of transportation costs, legal fees that tend to go upwards of $20,000, child support, and alimony, maintaining multiple homes at once is not a financially sound arrangement for many people—divorced or not.

Benefits

Divorced parents who are practicing nesting have, however, justified the technique by pointing out the positive effects it can have on children.

If you find yourself feeling conflicted about your divorce because of what it might do to your children, nesting can be a way to ensure your children’s needs are the top priority. It won’t be perfect, but they can spend more time with either parent without having to be shuttled back and forth.

Nesting may also be an option for you if you believe that children need both parents to lead healthy and normal lives. Many divorcing couples tend simply want their soon-to-be ex-spouse out of their lives right away. But when kids are part of the equation, the dynamic of the separation changes.

In other words, nesting reduces the feeling of having a broken family—a common cause of emotional distress for many children of separation. Nesting provides much-needed stability at a time when the children themselves feel conflicted about the divorce, to the point that they end up blaming themselves.

While a divorce might be unavoidable, compromising the time you spend with your children need not happen. With nesting, parents can ensure their children can spend a fair amount of quality time with each parent.
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Although divorce rates in the United States have fallen to a 35-year low according to the National Center for Family & Marriage Research at Bowling State University, it’s a different story for adults ages 50 and above.

For older Americans, divorce rates have doubled since the 1990s, with 10 in every 1000 married individuals having divorced in 2015—up from 5 in the early 1990s. It gets worse for older baby boomers (ages 65 and up), where divorce rates have tripled since the 1990s—around 6 in every 1000 married people.

Such separations are often referred to as “gray divorces.” While they may not seem different from any divorce at a younger age, gray divorces come with unique concerns, mostly having to do with your finances.

Danger to Retirement

One thing is for sure: when a gray divorce becomes part of anyone’s financial equation, it can put the retirement of both parties in danger. For starters, both spouses may be forced to live on only half the income they would normally have, leading to some uncomfortable lifestyle changes.

This is especially dangerous for homemakers who have been out of the workforce for years, and must now deal with the potential of finding a job even with alimony.

If there’s a silver lining to these divorces, it’s that spouses usually don’t have to deal with bitter custody battles. At this age, their children are likely to be adults and have their own families.

Expect a QDRO

A gray divorce usually leads to the division of whatever money the couple shares in 401(k) plans, retirement accounts, 403(b) or 457 accounts, and pensions. This usually requires an expensive Qualified Domestic Relations Order (QDRO).

Some points on QDROs to remember include:

For non-IRA retirement plans, you will need a QDRO to divide whatever money is in these accounts. Otherwise, you might end up paying taxes when moving any amount to your ex-spouse improperly.
Work with a divorce attorney who knows how QDROs work. This is a specialty not all divorce attorneys are experts in.
An improperly filed QDRO will be sent back to you, which means having to start all over again and paying the QRDO fees once more.

How Do You Avoid these Issues?

Of course, the most obvious solution is to simply not go through a divorce at this age. But while this may seem like the most practice choice for couples to avoid splitting their assets and retirement funds, money is not always the concern for these people. Personal happiness and independence are just as, if not more, important for couples of any age.

Careful financial planning also goes a long way if you want to insulate your finances against marriage problems. Just as people would adjust their lives and portfolios before retirement, it would be wise to prepare contingencies for unexpected separations in your golden years.
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It’s common knowledge that long-term relationships tend to break down around Valentine’s Day, which comes at the midway point between the Christmas holidays and Spring, which in turn, represents the renewal of romance. But when it comes marriage and divorce, does this trend remain present? There was really no way of knowing, until now.

A new study conducted by sociologists from the University of Washington shows that divorces tend to spike during two particular months of the year. According to the researchers, their findings represent the “first quantitative evidence of a seasonal, biannual pattern of filings for divorce.”

According to a report on the University of Washington’s news portal, “The researchers analyzed filings in Washington state between 2001 and 2015 and found that they consistently peaked in March and August, the periods following winter and summer holidays,”

Accidental Discovery:

It’s worth noting this discovery was accidental by nature.

Initially, Julie Brines, an associate sociology professor, and Brian Serafini, a doctoral candidate, set out to study divorce filings within Washington State between 2001 and 2015. The goal was to understand what kind of impact the Great Recession of 2008 and 2009 had on marriages.

Instead, the researchers found a peculiar pattern in divorce filings, realizing that throughout their research timeframe, divorces seemed to spike in March and August.

Why March and August?

Brines and Serafini believe the explanation behind the spike in divorce filings in these months has something to do with lower expectations, that is, couples tend to avoid damaging their relationships out of a “domestic ritual” calendar that affects family behavior.

“People tend to face the holidays with rising expectations, despite what disappointments they might have had in years past,” Brines said.

“They represent periods in the year when there’s the anticipation or the opportunity for a new beginning, a new start, something different, a transition into a new period of life. It’s like an optimism cycle, in a sense,” he adds.

Think of it this way: most couples tend to avoid separating during the months leading to and after the holidays because they don’t want to spoil the family’s mood, or are holding on to the possibility that things may change for the better.

And let’s face it, nobody wants to spoil Thanksgiving and Christmas with news of divorce, and the months after the start of the New Year typically represents hope and fresh beginnings.

But this optimism might fade heading into March. Likewise, during the school break (i.e. June to July), the feeling of facing reality and disillusionment sets in, such that couples begin to weigh divorce once more.
Brines notes that theoretically, divorce filings should spike around February and July, but he attributes the one-month delay to the long process of seeking a divorce attorney.
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Tying the knot after a divorce may not be the first thing on most new divorcees’ minds, but it’s something that happens fairly often. After all, when couples split apart, their priority is to pick up the pieces of their lives and find a way to move forward.

For those who eventually find new love and decide to remarry, one thing these people often do not expect is how complicated the financial and estate planning issues that come with remarriage can be. It’s a problem that has caught many blended families off guard.

If you’re about to remarry or have just remarried, it helps to be aware of the following financial and legal issues you might encounter.

Shared Expenses, Income, and Assets:

If you and your new spouse have shared income and assets, these funds may be at risk if you are still financially tied to your former spouse. You and your new partner may have set up a joint account or two, where you can pool funds to pay for expenses like utilities, groceries, and mortgages—basically, family expenses.

Ask your lawyer about your financial obligations to your former spouse. It may be that you need to keep money separate to protect it from creditors, who are not necessarily bound by divorce settlements. This insulates your shared income from being involved in an old debt of your ex.

Community Property and Common Law Issues:

In a community property state like Texas, the law states that assets brought into the marriage or received individually by one spouse are owned by that spouse. However, any income or assets earned or acquired during the marriage has the presumption that it is the property of both spouses.

In contrast, a common law state requires ownership of assets to be controlled by titles and other ownership documents.

Consult your lawyer to prepare an estate plan that considers your home state, as well as any property that’s out of state.

Safeguards Against Remarriage:

Should your spouse remarry after you pass away, your assets may be at risk of being shared with that new family. Sometimes, what happens when a spouse pre-deceases a new spouse, is that none of the assets owned jointly go to children from a previous marriage. In this situation, the new spouse has the final say over who inherits these assets.

You can set up a Trust, which will ensure your assets are protected and allocated to your desired beneficiaries. A Trust will guarantee that inheritances go straight to your desired loved ones. A Trust can also indicate what happens to your home upon your death, and whether you want to leave it for the benefit of your surviving spouse or children.
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Divorce proceedings are all but guaranteed to be trying, emotionally draining times. Emotions run high, tensions between family members are palpable, and all you want to do is get things over with and move on. But what many divorcing couples often don’t realize is just how damaging a divorce can be to their personal finances. And the closer you are to retirement age, the repercussions of a divorce can be even more severe, especially to the spouse who has chosen to stay at home and forego employment for years.

It’s for this reason it’s important to claim everything you are entitled to of what you saved as a couple. Unfortunately, this is easier said than done, as things like retirement savings are relatively easy to hide if you don’t know where to look.

Here are a few places to focus your attention on.

Turn to the Internal Revenue Service

Most of us tend to avoid any kind of dealings with the IRS out of fear of being audited. But during a divorce, the IRS can be one of the best places to check for a paper trail leading back to your ex-spouse’s Individual Retirement Arrangement (IRA) and retirement account distributions, which can be found on a 1099-R form.

Let’s say your spouse moved funds from a retirement account into an IRA with Ameritrade or a 401(k) with Vanguard. Either way, if your spouse did this to siphon funds away from their account and make it seem it contains much less than expected, this transaction would still trigger Ameritrade or Vanguard to send a 1099-R to both your spouse and the IRS.

And even if your former spouse were to throw their copy of the form away, the IRS would still know and report this in the tax return for the year the transaction happened.

Check for Fake Documents

In a world of Photoshop and digital manipulation, it’s never been easier to doctor documents so they show any amount you want to declare. And that doesn’t even include the ‘traditional’ defrauding tools like a photocopier, typewriter, or even something as simple as correction fluid or tape.

In any case, if you’re going through a divorce or have just been through one, be sure to check the authenticity of any tax, IRA, or 401(k) documents you get from your spouse. When in doubt, talk to your lawyer or a fraud specialist to determine the veracity of the barely legible document given to the courts.

You can also multiply the number of shares of the retirement fund by its latest share price to see if the investment value lines up with the number you see on the document.
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Couples who have finally finished the often-rigorous process of getting divorced often have one thing in mind: get out and start anew. But while it’s certainly important to start finding some semblance of normalcy as quickly as you can after a divorce, acting too hastily may have unexpected repercussions for the future—especially when it comes to your finances.

Many divorced spouses often underestimate the impact their separation can have on their retirement. Below are 4 steps to protect your retirement assets during a divorce.

Decide What Happens to Your Retirement Plans

The Internal Revenue Service needs a Qualified Domestic Relations Order (QDRO) to divide the amount in a retirement fund between two former spouses. This document is a court order determining how your retirement assets will be divided, and is also typically presented to your retirement plan provider.

Executing a QDRO can be complicated, and unfortunately, many divorce lawyers don’t fully understand the process. It helps to consult the advice of a financial advisor and hire a divorce attorney familiar with this aspect of your case. Your attorney can tell you about all its nuances and rules, especially the fees, which can be obscenely high if you make a mistake in filing.

Change Your Beneficiaries

Thought your new will covers your retirement accounts? Think again. You should still change your beneficiary designations on all your retirement plans. Unfortunately, many divorced spouses make this all too common mistake, thinking their last will and testament takes care of everything.

Changing your beneficiaries is especially important if you named your former (or soon-to-be) spouse as one of them. Despite your divorced status, your ex will still inherit your retirement money upon your death if it says so in your account. And even if your spouse respects your wishes and gives the money to your kids, he/she can be liable for a tax payment for doing so.

Bottom line? Get your lawyer to execute this simple legal document.

Go Over Your Social Security Benefits

You can receive a portion of your former spouse’s Social Security benefits if you were married to your spouse for at least 10 years prior to the divorce. Now is a good time to compare your Social Security benefits with your ex’s, because you can only claim either one.

And if you decide to remarry, doing so before you turn 60 voids any chance you have of collecting your ex-spouse’s Social Security benefits.

Review Your Investment Portfolio

Now would also be a good time to look at your investment accounts and reevaluate your risk tolerance. There are many instances when a person’s risk tolerance for investment matches that of their spouse. Your risk tolerance may also be more aggressive due to the higher combined income you share with your spouse. As someone who’s single once more, your investment options now need to consider your current income, current savings, profession, and likely future.

Everyone knows divorce can take an extreme toll on your stress levels and emotions, but many people fail to grasp how big of an impact a separation can have on their future retirement. If you’re not sure how to secure your finances, talk to a qualified divorce attorney.
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Medical advancements are adding decades to the average human lifespan, extending it by around 30 years. Of course, this is fantastic news in terms of self-fulfillment and productivity. However, with longer lifespans comes the unprecedented increase in divorce rates in the later years of our lives.

Such separations are often referred to as “gray divorces,” and while the overall divorce rate has begun to decline and stabilize, these late-life divorces see the opposite. And the reasons for this spike are largely unsurprising when you stop to give them serious thought.

Reduced Stigma of Divorce a Contributor?

For one, long-term relationships tend to become more challenge to maintain later on in life. Pair this with our newfound longevity and the dwindling stigma surrounding divorce, and the remarkable increase in gray divorce no longer seems so shocking. Another potential reason is that marriages by this age tend to be the second, third, even fourth for many Americans, and remarriages are sociologically accepted as a contributing factor.

And at this point in the lives of seniors, many of them feel that they’ve done their part—earned their money, got their promotions, put their kids through school. It’s easy to start thinking that the milestones and functions of married life have been lived fully.

But whatever the reason for getting a gray divorce, like all things, it comes with its fair share of benefits and dangers.

Writing for the New York Times, Katie Crouch narrates the positive changes in her family life after her mother divorced at the age of 72. She recounts that her 4-year-old daughter found herself in high demand and at the center of attention, receiving constant phone and Skype calls from her grandparents.

But then there’s the darker side, which mostly has to do with your finances.

Increased Risk of Poverty

First, there is an elevated risk of poverty for senior citizens, who tend to face greater difficulty and higher hurdles in establishing and maintaining their footing in the corporate world. This is especially alarming when you factor how 1 in 3 Americans have not saved a single dollar for retirement.

Dangerous for Housewives

Perhaps no one is more heavily hit by a gray divorce than the housewife, who would have no retirement plans to augment her alimony. Even women who just took time off from work to focus on domestic life are vulnerable to financial difficulty.

Gray divorced housewives face greater difficulty paying for the divorce proceedings and looking for work after years of being at home. This underscores the need for married women to be proactive in securing their personal finances while they still can.
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While many divorce attorneys in Texas know the Lone Star State observes community property laws, many lawyers erroneously believe this extends into a similar concept called “community debt.” This is simply not true.

Yes, divorced couples are liable for any property acquired during their marriage, but these laws don’t apply to debt incurred during your union with your spouse, save for a few very specific exceptions.

In this guide, we answer a few questions about community property law, clearing up misconceptions about community debt in the process.

What is Community Property?

Texas, which observes community property laws, treats all assets acquired during the marriage as equal conjugal property. This means that any property acquired by either spouse is shared and subject to property division proceedings during a divorce.

Only under specific conditions can one spouse prove a certain asset is a separate property, which includes property owned by one spouse before the marriage, or property inherited or received as a gift.

What is Community Debt?

Community debt is a false concept that takes the provisions of community property laws, applying them to debt inquired by the couple during the course of their marriage.

Essentially, the community debt concept makes the wrong assumption that any debt incurred by either spouse during their marriage is shared debt. So, if you are debt-free but your spouse incurred credit card debt while you were married, you are supposedly liable for paying off that debt after getting divorced, which again, is not true.

However, there are very specific kinds of debt that a spouse may be liable for.

What Kinds of Debt are Divorced Spouses Liable for?

Texas law requires each spouse to support the other. For example, spouses are liable for providing each other necessaries, be it food, clothing, or shelter.

According to Texas Family Code §3.201, a person can be held liable for the debt of his or her spouse only if that spouse incurred a debt while acting “as an agent for the person” and incurred “a debt for necessaries.” A person, however, is not automatically considered an agent of his or her spouse due to marriage.

What About Debt Incurred Together as a Couple?

Yes, couples can incur joint and several liability for debt acquired together as a couple. During divorce proceedings, the court generally takes a hands-off approach to avoid affecting the rights of the creditor for joint and several liability of debt.

For example, if both spouses are on contract for paying a credit card account, even if the court rules during divorce proceedings that one spouse should shoulder the burden of making all further payments, both parties are actually still jointly and severally liable for said debt.
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Texas county clerks with “sincerely held” religious objections may now delegate the task of issuing same-sex marriage licenses to other officials. According to state Senator Brian Birdwell, Texas Senate Bill 522 institutes a “statutory balance between the religious liberties of marriage-certifying officials and the rights of all couples to marry,” thereby creating an effective middle ground for the contrasting civil liberties in question.

SB 522 provides that county clerks may lend licensing authority to a “certifying official,” allowing them to produce a marriage license in their place. The bill requires that the concerned county clerk must notify the commissioners court of “sincerely held religious beliefs” that may go against their function and office.

These substitute officials may include an available judge, deputy clerk, or magistrate who is willing and able to certify the marriage license application, administer the oath, as well as the actual issuance of the marriage license.

Likewise, the bill prohibits action against officials who recuse themselves from their functions, stating that, “a civil cause of action may not be brought against the person based on the person’s refusal to conduct the marriage ceremony.” This provision effectively protects officials from administrative and civil penalties for refusing to administer these marriage licenses.

To prevent the possibility of same-sex couples facing additional obstacles after a state official delegates the task of issuing a marriage license, State Sen. Sylvia Garcia (D-Houston), amended the bill: “A commissioners court of a county in which the clerk has made a notification under Subsection (a) shall ensure that all eligible persons applying for a marriage license are given equal access to the process and are not subject to undue burden due to the county clerk’s refusal to certify the application for a marriage license, administer the oath, and issue the license.”

The amendment comes in response to the actions of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who defied the Supreme Court’s decision legalizing same-sex marriage. In an advisory released to county clerks and judges, Paxton suggested that they may refuse to issue same-gender union licenses on the grounds of religious freedom, which in effect, places a burden on gender-deviant couples looking to get married.

The State Bar of Texas has made no disciplinary action on Attorney Paxton in spite of the ethics complaint filed against him by over 200 attorneys.

The seemingly tolerant move was not met with resounding applause from gender equality advocates, however.

Equality Texas, an Austin-based nonprofit supporting equal gender rights, asserts that the bill authorizes employees in public office to discriminate based on religious convictions, ultimately permitting them to cite religion as a basis for further discrimination.

Texas Freedom Network President Kathy Miller believes that the bill not only condones discrimination against same-gender couples but also “against virtually any Texan,” including previously divorced as well as interfaith couples.
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