When a divorcing couple owns a home together, one of the spouses will be awarded the house and must then assume the mortgage singly. The names on the existing mortgage cannot be changed, and the assuming spouse must therefore refinance to take on the remaining mortgage balance. What happens when the spouse who wants to remain in the marital home will not qualify to refinance the mortgage?
Read MoreThere is no formal definition of a “gray divorce” or, as it is otherwise known, a “late in life divorce” but these terms are commonly used to describe divorces involving couples in their 50’s or older. Personally I feel “late in life” is a misnomer as a 50-year-old could easily live another 30-40 years, and I think sometimes a better description would be “late in work life” divorce. Because many of the issues that are particular to older divorcing couples stem from the fact that neither party has more than 10-15 years at the most to make up for lost income or assets, and that is only if they are still working. If one or both parties are retired, the opportunity to regain the pre-divorce lifestyle becomes even more difficult.
Read MoreWhen a divorcing couple has two properties the separation can be made easier when one party takes the principal residence and the other takes the vacation home. This may seem like a cut and dried decision, but there is an important tax issue to consider when converting a rental property to a personal residence.
Read MoreRemember the old adage “never judge a book by its cover?” This holds true when looking at the value of a taxable investment asset. It can look like one thing on the outside, but can turn out to be completely different on the inside.
Read MoreAn often overlooked area in divorce negotiations is 529 college savings accounts. Because they are earmarked for college it is easy to think that there is nothing to discuss. However the divorce decree should address how these funds are to be invested, monitored and paid out.
Read MoreDivorces have been happening in the United States for hundreds of years – in fact the first recorded case of a legal divorce in the American colonies took place on January 5, 1643.
Read MoreIn January new mortgage rules took effect as part of the Dodd-Frank financial overhaul. The Qualified Mortgage Rule tightens the qualification for a mortgage and could have an impact on some divorces.
Read MoreNew Hampshire Family Division Rule 1.25-A requires parties to provide pay stubs as part of the documents to be disclosed in a divorce. A pay stub may hold much more information than you think. Beyond the employee’s wages and taxes withheld, here is some other information that can be obtained from the stub:
Read MoreWhen a spouse in a divorce is adverse to paying alimony, one option is to provide a property settlement that is the equivalent of all the alimony payments. This may be more palatable to the payor, even though he or she gets no tax advantage from the one-time payment. Some attorneys and payors try to “have their cake and eat it too” by recasting property settlement payments into tax-deductible alimony. This is done by front loading: a payor-spouse would pay a large amount of “alimony” for one or two years only. However alimony payments that decrease or stop during the first three years may be subject to IRS recapture rules.
Read MoreIt is not unusual, when splitting assets in a divorce, to divide each account right down the middle. That might be fine to do for most types of investment accounts, but when it comes to annuities you need to be very careful. Because of their unique structure, dividing an annuity can have unexpected tax consequences.
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