The Law Offices of Jay S. Jump, PLLC
PO Box 1028
201 Morgan Street
Davenport, WA 99122
(509) 725-1130
Copyright 2010. All Rights Reserved. Law Offices of Jay S. Jump, PLLC. The Jump Law Group. Law Offices in Kent and Davenport, Washington.
What happens in a divorce?
In a divorce proceeding, the Court ends the marriage and divides the assets and liabilities of the union.
Of course, there is also the children of the marriage to be addressed and since the Court can't exactly split the children, the legislature has developed a parenting plan to address how the children will be handled after the dissolution.
The Court begins with the premise that both parties are entitled to 50% of each other's property as they were considered equal partners in the marriage.
So, if there is a money market account with $10,000.00, then the court presumes that husband and wife are each entitled to $5,000.00.
Of course, the same holds true with debt. Perhaps there is a $10,000.00 credit card. The Court would presume that the Husband and Wife each owe $5,000.00.
An interesting side note for you. Just because you and your spouse have filed for divorce, this does not relieve you of the joint and several obligation you have for any debt that was incurred during the course of the marriage. So, even though, your spouse might have agreed to take the Capital One debt, if he or she doesn't pay, Capital One would still have a claim against you. The divorce decree does not affect third party creditors.
Now, you have the freedom to negotiate whatever you like with regard to the assets and liabilities. The Court has wide discretion to grant the assets and liability agreements of the parties and as long as you are both agreed, the Court is going to sign off on your plan.
So, if you decide that you want to take 100% of the liability from the relationship because you are also taking on the house which has a lot of equity in it, the Court will approve this agreement so long as you are both consenting to the arrangement.
With regard to the children of the marriage, the Court adopts a different standard, "The best interests of the child" test. In dealing with the children, the Court doesn't much care about what you or your spouse think, they want to make sure that the children are taken care of. That being said, the Court also anticipates that BOTH parents will be involved in the rearing of the chlid and that the adults will work out an agreed plan that allows the child to see BOTH parents on a regular basis and that the parents will share the decision making process for the children of the marriage.
The Court can also order child support and determine the amount that is paid. This is based on an accepted formula that takes into account how much each parent earns and then adjusting the child support payment accordingly.
Once the parties have reached an agreement that is within the acceptable parameters of the law and the mandatory 90 day waiting period has expired, the Court will enter an order dissolving the marriage and allowing the parties to get on with the rest of their lives.
