Divorce Lawyers Knoxville

Divorce almost always wreaks havoc on the family finances. The biggest contributor to the financial stress is the duplication of expenses such as housing and utilities. Not to mention the costs of one person moving, hiring attorneys, etc. But there are ways to minimize the impact on you as you make this transition. Henry Gornbein has come up with 9 ways to make the financial cost less of a problem. Here are the first few:

9.   Find out as much about your financials as possible before you file a divorce, so that there will be no surprises.

8.   Try to find out as much as possible about your job security and if you aren’t employed, see what your options are for employment.

7.   Carefully consider all options, especially whether or not the marriage can be saved.

6.   Think about your house. Does it have a negative equity? Can you afford the payments? Do you want to stay in the house, or leave?

5.   If you have children, think about your children. Can you work with your soon to be former spouse regarding custody and parenting time? What arrangement makes sense for you?

Some marriages have agreements that include “no-inclusion” clauses with respect to certain aspects of their household. The idea is that you can exclude certain things from a divorce proceeding should your marriage ever dissolve. But can this be applied to child custody? In other words, can a couple determine child custody by contract such that the issue would not be decided through the Court system like in a normal divorce? Probably not. While Courts typically recognize and enforce legal agreements, there is a greater responsibility that, in this case, would probably override any prior agreement. The duty to ensure the child’s best interests are met is the Court’s first priority. Jennifer Paine explains more:

A separation agreement is really a contract. In general, a “no inclusion” clause is an attempt to keep a contract from being truly binding in court. However, this type of clause flies in the face of what a contract is – a binding agreement designed to ensure predictability – and, in my experience, some courts will not consider an argument that a contract “is really not supposed to be considered” in contract dispute cases.

The same is not true for child custody cases. In most states, the court has an independent duty to ensure that its ultimate custody order is in the child’s best interests, regardless of what the parties agree in a separation agreement. Therefore, it is possible your separation agreement, as far as it addresses custody, will not be binding even if you wanted it to be binding.

If you have a divorce or custody problem in Knoxville, TN feel free to call us for a consultation.