Navigating Divorce Over 50
Divorces among people over 50 have doubled since 1990. Even when the relationship is no longer rewarding for either party, partners considering dissolving marriages later in life may shy away from the process because it can be emotionally and financially painful.
At Silver Divorce Wisconsin, we believe in marriage and empowering spouses to end a union on their terms. We strive to make the entire experience as healthy and amicable as possible. Our family law team offers mediation and amicable divorce services for couples serious about reaching a consensus. We are also ready to assist you if you cannot reach an agreement.
For those clients whose moral or religious beliefs prevent them from seeking a divorce, we also provide representation in legal separations, which can give valuable financial protections to couples who wish to stay married but can no longer cohabitate.
Why Do You Need a Family Law Attorney in Wisconsin?
Family law deals with delicate subjects, including marital relations and family difficulties. Our family law attorney has years of experience in managing situations including divorce, spousal support, and guardianships, among other issues.
Without our seasoned Wisconsin family law attorney by your side, handling these complex situations with professional skills and adherence to all applicable laws will be impossible.
Trusted Family Law Attorney in Wisconsin
Family law is a broad area that has many complexities. Our attorneys have dealt with dozens of similar situations and know how to submit your case before a court.
On the other hand, if you do not have legal counsel on your side, they may misrepresent your case, or you may overlook information that is essential to building a solid defense. Thus, you are strongly advised to work with our knowledgeable family law attorney to ensure a straightforward process.
Our Family Law Attorney Knows How to Negotiate
There is a lot to consider when someone is going through divorce issues. There is a lot to deal with, including reading through divorce paperwork and attending court hearings. You can’t see clearly or decide for yourself when you’re broken. You won’t be able to negotiate wisely in this circumstance.
Because we are a neutral party, hiring our knowledgeable family law attorney might help you see things from a different perspective.
Source of Emotional Support
Being alone while going through a distressing experience may be scary. You not only waste additional time, money, and effort, but you also lose your case. You can have things easier if you hire our family law attorney.
Helps You Avoid Legal Headaches
Family law can be complicated. You must adhere to the rules and restrictions that each state has to offer. If you’re not an attorney, you probably won’t be able to keep up with the deadlines and required filling-out procedures. This may hurt your case.
Your case may be simple if you have our experienced family law attorney by your side.
ADVOCATING FOR SENIORS
Attorney Andrea Gage always keeps your stability and wellbeing front of mind.
What Is Family Law?
Legal issues including adoption, spousal support, gray divorce, legal separation, and marriage all fall under family law.
What Is Gray Divorce?
A gray or silver divorce is a family law action intended to terminate a marriage for a person over the age of 50. It happens a lot more frequently than you may imagine. According to statistics, divorce is harder on older couples than on younger ones.
Gray Divorce and Insurance
Getting your insurance before divorce is crucial since you can be removed from your spouse’s health and life insurance plans. Remember that your eligibility for Medicaid and Medicare may also change if you get divorced. You must rely on our experienced family law attorney to provide case-specific advice because no two cases are identical.
How can a late-life divorce attorney help me?
Is it best to divorce before or after retirement?
What am I entitled to if I was the main homemaker in a long-term marriage?
High Asset Divorce
Separating property and financial resources can be challenging for couples who end a marriage after amassing assets. Retirement accounts, enterprises, mutual funds, and other complex joint possessions must frequently be disclosed and evaluated in high-asset divorces.
At the Silver Divorce Wisconsin, our seasoned family law attorney has experience assisting Wisconsin residents in defending their rights and interests during this procedure.
Evaluating Property When a Marriage Dissolves
A high-asset divorce involves accurately identifying all the property that needs to be distributed. While no one likes to think that one spouse may be hiding assets, this may become an issue if a marriage is not ending amicably.
As an illustration, one spouse could try to move stocks or money into accounts with a different name or foreign banks. Or a former partner with a lucrative career can try to postpone salary or bonuses to avoid taking that money into account during a divorce.
While it is feasible to identify all relevant assets, doing so could need the assistance of an experienced lawyer.
Even after all of the assets involved in a divorce have been identified, the parties still need to go through the technical process of fairly evaluating them to decide how they should be split. For instance, if a couple shares ownership of a costly professional license or runs a business together, you must carefully evaluate these assets to establish their value relative to other forms of property, such as a house or vacation property.
Before the court may accept them during a divorce procedure, these values frequently need to be substantiated by expert testimony or the submission of evidence. You may receive support from our seasoned family law attorney throughout this procedure and get appropriate compensation for any assets acquired during a marriage.
Prenuptial Agreements
The existence of a prenuptial agreement adds another layer of intricacy to many high-asset divorces. This formal agreement outlines how you will manage financial assets during a relationship or in the case of divorce. It is completed before getting married. Although anybody may utilize them, they are more frequently employed when one spouse has much more assets or income than the other.
Prenuptial agreements may be voidable even if Wisconsin law recognizes and upholds them if they were made under duress or if one party failed to fully disclose the real nature of their assets during the document’s preparation.
Hiring our experienced family law attorney will be crucial if you want to fight an arrangement that you feel is unjust or guarantee that a prenuptial agreement you established is complied with after a divorce.
Business Divorce
Divorce affects not just the couples and their families but also the assets that belong to those families. Business partners, customers, and workers may suffer from a divorce if divorcing spouses have ownership interests in the firm.
Suppose you or your spouse own a sizable business in Wisconsin and want to dissolve your marriage. In that case, you are recommended to contact our experienced family law attorney, who has the knowledge and skills to comprehend how any ownership division can impact your firm.
At the Silver Divorce Wisconsin, we take the time to hear your objectives and concerns about your business interests and help you reach a successful conclusion.
How Are Business Ownership Interests Divided in a Business Divorce?
In Wisconsin, a spouse attempting to establish that their business stake is their separate property must prove that it was acquired before marriage or that it was given to them alone through inheritance or gift. Even then, it may be restored as marital property by demonstrating how the business ownership benefited the union.
Wisconsin law acknowledges that each spouse is entitled to receive half of the marital estate following divorce because it is a community property state. A family court can determine the total value of those assets, including a determination of the fair market value of the business, and order how those assets are to be distributed if a couple is unable to come to an independent settlement agreement through mediation or other outside negotiation, including prenuptial agreements.
The court may order that one spouse receive the full ownership interest and the other spouse receive assets of equal value to the fair market value of the business ownership interest if a division of ownership interests between two divorcing spouses could harm the business. This raises additional issues if the business interest accounts for more than half of the couple’s total assets.
As a result, the fair market value of a privately held business is sometimes one of the most contentious issues in a divorce since it is fundamentally flexible and might still be vulnerable to new factors after being determined.
What Special Issues Are Unique to Business Ownership Interests During a Divorce?
A wide range of factors can impact the fair market value of a corporation. For instance, delaying costs and pay might be utilized to boost the present balance sheet at the expense of the future balance sheet.
Due to these accounting uncertainties, family lawyers for each spouse look for as many internal records of a business’s ongoing financial operations as possible. Both parties are allowed to examine documents containing information about things like:
- Tax returns
- Payroll records indicating how much employees are paid
- Loan applications, both successful and unsuccessful
- Sales and revenue figures reflecting not only revenues and profits but the marketability of the business itself
- Client and customer information
- Company assets (such as real property or patents)
Spousal Support
Spousal support or “maintenance,” is money given to a spouse to sustain them following a divorce or, in some cases, even while the divorce is still pending.
How is Maintenance Calculated?
Spousal support is left to the court’s subjective discretion. The judge must decide on spousal support based on a variety of variables, including but not limited to:
- the length of the marriage
- the age of each spouse
- the physical and mental health of both parties
- the education level and work history of both parties
- the earning capacity of each party
- the actual earning of each party
- the likelihood that the party seeking maintenance can become self-supporting at a standard of living comparable to that enjoyed during the marriage
- each party’s contributions to the marriage
How Do You File to Receive Spousal Support?
There are two methods to start the maintenance request procedure in a divorce:
- Mediation
- Litigation
How Long Do You Get Spousal Support?
Depending on the objectives of your court-approved spousal support arrangement, you may get spousal support for a predetermined number of months or years. As was already established, if one spouse’s circumstances change over that time, the length and amount of maintenance may also alter.
The court may mandate “indefinite” maintenance in certain circumstances. This does not imply that you will always be paid maintenance. By doing this, the court can leave the maintenance termination date “open” and flexible to account for unforeseen events like a party’s impending retirement.
In any case, if the receiving spouse marries again or if either spouse passes away, the maintenance arrangement usually expires immediately.
Marital Property and Debt Division
Wisconsin recognizes no-fault divorce on the grounds of the marriage’s irretrievable dissolution. It doesn’t matter who is to blame for the dissolution of the marriage.
How to Divide Property in a Wisconsin Divorce?
Wisconsin is one of the nine community property states in the US, which means that, except for specific property, such as real estate acquired before the marriage, inherited property, or gifts given to one party, marital property is subject to a 50/50 split in a divorce.
However, remember that if a separate property has been combined with marital property, it may be subject to a property split.
An illustration would be if one spouse had a house or cabin before the marriage, and both incomes were utilized to maintain it. Any marital assets used to maintain the separate property are included in the split of marital property.
How to Divide Debts in a Wisconsin Divorce?
The split of marital debts must consider both the matrimonial obligations and the marital assets, such as a home, automobiles, retirement funds, and other assets. Unless, for instance, a loan is made out to one spouse based on separate property, debt accrued during the marriage is likewise subject to a 50/50 division.
Regardless of whether just one spouse’s name is on the account, marital debt, such as credit card debt accumulated during the marriage, is divided equally between spouses after a divorce. The divorce decree divides all accumulated marital debt.
When distributing marital assets, the court may impose financial penalties for money spent on a girlfriend or plain old vengeance.
ADVOCATING FOR SENIORS
Attorney Andrea Gage always keeps your stability and wellbeing front of mind.
Wisconsin Family Law Attorney You Can Count On
Whether it’s about divorce or other family law disputes, our family law attorney understands the significance of coming to fair settlements and keeping the peace with the opposing party. We have years of mediation experience and are trained in collaborative divorce.
However, if we cannot come to an equitable agreement, we will not be hesitant to go to trial. We will thoroughly assess your situation and collaborate with you to create a plan of action to accomplish your objectives.
Our Wisconsin elder & family law attorney makes it a point to explain to you the relevant laws and procedures in your case, so you can be an active participant in the process. Our law office offers complete services and can consider every element of your case.
Need help figuring out the best choice for you and your family? Call Silver Divorce Wisconsin to schedule a consultation and get quality legal assistance and representation now!
