Categories
Divorce Family Law High Net-Worth Divorce Marital Property Division

Kaley Cuoco Talks About Divorce

Kaley Cuoco is moving on and talking about her divorce from ex-husband, Ryan Sweeting.

Kaley Cuoco Talks About Divorce

The Big Bang Theory actress took to The Ellen DeGeneres Show to talk about what she calls a “bizarre” year.

“We all go through really weird ups and down, and sometimes I’m a little more seen,” the 30-year-old said. “You know, so I already feel like 2016 is going to be a much better year than 2015.”

The two were engaged just three months after starting to date and then married New Year’s Eve 2013 in a fire-and-ice-themed wedding. But after only 21 months of marriage, Cuoco filed for divorce last September.

“You know, it’s been rough, but things are going good,” Cuoco said. “I’m much, much better now. I’m in a much better place than I was.”

One of the first things the actress did was cover up her tattoo of the couple’s wedding date with a large moth.

“I had the date tattooed on my back to remind me … ” she said, then went on to advise, “Don’t tattoo wedding dates.”

And the choice of a moth?

“The significance is that it was big enough to cover the numbers … big wings… silence, quiet, on a wall,” she joked. “You know how they do that? They’re like stationary.”

Can You Predict Divorce?

While celebrity divorces are fairly common, and perhaps even predictable, is it actually possible to predict that a marriage will end in divorce? According to the following statistics, it might be.

Did the bride have pre-wedding jitters?

29765997_m

According to a study that was published in the Journal of Family Psychology, if the bride-to-be has cold feet, the couple’s risk of getting divorced more than doubles. But is it the same if the groom has doubts? According to the study, nope. The groom’s cold feet has no impact on the outcome of the marriage.

Did the couple get married young? Or after the age of 32?

It seems that conventional wisdom holds that getting married too young doesn’t always work out. “I often see couples in their 40s in counseling who got married too young and didn’t have experience with other partners or want different things now,” says licensed psychotherapist and relationship expert, Rachel Sussman. “Because there’s a very good chance that in 10 or 15 years, you’re going to be a very different person — and you should be.”

But a recent study shows that after the age of 32, a couple’s risk for divorcing increases by 5% each year they hold off on marriage. Sussman thinks this is due to the entrenched independence and need for space that people have as they get older.

Does the couple have two daughters? 

When a couple has two daughters, it ups their chances of divorce by 43%. And according to Columbia University economist Kristin Mammen, even just having one daughter makes you 5% more likely to split. Parents with two sons face a nearly 37% risk.  Stephanie Coontz, author of Marriage, a History and director of research for the Council on Contemporary Families said “We think it happens because fathers get more invested in family life when they have boys.”

Parents dealing with a child that has been diagnosed with ADHD are nearly 23% more likely to divorce before thre child turns 8 years old.

Does divorce runs in the family?

If a person’s parents are divorced, they are at least 40% more likely to do the same. Even more shocking is the statistic that if your parents were remarried, you have a 91% likelihood of getting divorced.

Are there debt issues?

Debt can be a big time marital stressor. This can be even harder if couple’s have different spending habits. When one partner is a big spender, divorce can be 45% more likely.

“There can be a problem when one partner works or just has a significantly bigger salary, and the other spends an exorbitant amount of money. Fighting over the Amex bill every month is just a dumb fight to have. They’ve got to be on the same page, and I think setting a budget is key,” explains Sussman.

Did the groom frown in his childhood snapshots?

This might be the weirdest predictor yet. In two separate studies, psychologists took a look at peoples’childhood and yearbook photos in relation to their marital status. They concluded that people that frowned in their photos were five times more likely to end up divorced than people that smiled.

Does one partner smokes?

When only one person in a marriage is a smoker, they’re 75% to 91% more likely to split than couples where both partners are smokers. According to Sussman, the reason behind this could be that “Different values and lifestyles can be problematic.”

Was the first child was born less than 8 months after the wedding?

This makes marriages 24% more likely to call it quits. Chances are, this is because the marriage was entered into to “solve” the issue of an unplanned pregnancy.

Did the couple live together before marriage?

Multiple studies have shown that when couples live together before getting married, there’s a 12% higher chance that they will get divorced.

Is one partner a dancer or choreographer?

According to a 2009 study by the Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology, occupations have a big say in divorce. Dancers and choreographers have a 43% divorce rate, bartenders have a 38% divorce rate, and nursing, psychiatric, and home health aides have an almost 29% divorce rate.

Does the couple live in Nevada? Or Maine?

Where you live might play a role in if you divorce. But Nevada residents have a 14.6% rate of divorce. Maine is second with 14.2% and Oklahoma trails at 13.5%. New York has 8.8% divorced residents, but that could be attributed to the fact that it also has one of the lowest number of married residents. Researchers say that you might be more likely to get divorced in some states, but that’s only because you are more likely to get married there.

Does the wife makes more money than the husband?

According to a Swiss study of U.S. couples, marriages where spouses earn around the same amount are more at prone to divorce than marriages in which the wife earns less. In marriages where the wife makes 60% or more of the family income, the risk of divorce doubles when compared to couples where the wife does not work at all.

Is the wife older than her husband?

According to an Australian study, in marriages where the women are three years older than their husbands are 53% more likely to end in divorce. The study suggest this may be “due to differences in values associated with birth control, or marital strain caused by power imbalances within the union.”

Does one spouse think they are always right? 

wistful

Perhaps this is obvious, but one of the biggest predictors of divorce is how the couple’s feel towards each other. John Gottman claims that he is able to predict a couple’s chances with 93% accuracy. His predictions are based on four key traits, including being defensive and constant criticism. According to him, the “kiss of death,” is contempt and seeing your partner as beneath you.

“It’s constant anger and disgust, passive-aggressive digs, eye-rolling, and yelling at your partner,” says Sussman. “When couples do that in a session, I say the research shows that if you keep doing that, there’s a really good chance you’re going to get divorced.”

You, After Divorce

It goes without saying that divorce is a difficult process. Whether or not there are kids involved, a number of thing need to be worked out: child custody arrangements, child support, spousal support, marital property division. A family law attorney will be able to help you with these aspects of ending a marriage. But you’ll also need help working through the tougher parts of ending a marriage: emotionally tiring and stressful aspects of ending a mrriage. It not only changes your entire lifestyle, it changes you. If you can step back, you might just realize how it changes you in a good way. Here are some positive aspects of a divorce that you may want to consider. In the end, you might just be grateful for the little things that you learned from going through one of the hardest processes you could go through.

Working with a Divorce Attorney

When you’re in the middle of a divorce, just starting one, or just ending one, it can be hard to see a future. Where will you be in a year’s time? Will you be better off? Will you be worse? When a couple decides to say “I do,” they never, ever dream of saying “I don’t.” Divorce can be debilitating, but when the dust is settled, you will have to pick up the pieces and move forward. Sometimes the easiest thing to do is work with a divorce attorney that can advise you on all aspects of a divorce, including child support, spousal support, and marital property division.

Working with a skilled attorney can help ensure you get a fair case.  For advice on divorce, child custody determinations, setting up a co-parenting agreement, dividing marital property, and spousal support you need the expert law firm of Divorce Law LA. Schedule a consultation today.

Divorce Law LA, Esq.

Divorce Law LA

33 S. Catalina Ave. Ste. 202

Pasadena, Ca. 91106

(626) 478-3550

https://bestdivorcelawyer.co

Categories
Divorce Family Law Marital Property Division Spousal Support

Kaley Cuoco Divorce

After 21 months of marriage, Kaley Cuoco has filed for divorce from husband Ryan Sweeting.

Kaley Cuoco Divorce

Kaley Cuoco, 29, and Ryan Sweeting, 28, have decided to end their marriage, listing their date of separation as Sept. 3, and announcing the split via Cuoco’s rep on Friday Sept. 25, with this:”Kaley Cuoco and Ryan Sweeting have mutually decided to end their marriage. They ask for privacy at this time. No further statement will be issued regarding this matter.”

The two have cited “irreconcilable differences” as the reason for the split. Additionally, the TV star and tennis player signed a prenuptial agreement one month prior to saying their wedding on Dec. 31, 2013. In that document, the couple agreed to both spousal support and property assets.

Spousal Support

Alimony, also known as “spousal support,” is when one spouse pays the other in order to help that spouse maintain the same financial standing as was experienced during the marriage. A court will require the higher earning spouse, in this case Cuoco, who is said to be the highest paid actress on TV, to assist the lower in maintaining that standard of lifestyle that was achieved during the marriage.

Awarding Spousal Support

In California a judge can award temporary (“pendente lite”) support either during the divorce proceedings, or when the divorce is declared final. Typically these payments are made from one spouse to the other in a specified amount for a predetermined period of time. But support can also be paid in a single lump-sum payment. In collaborative process divorce agreements, spouses often come to agreement on the terms and conditions of support payments. As long as this agreement meets legal requirements, a court will uphold an agreement. This is the case even if the agreement provides for a complete waiver of support to the lower-earning spouse.

41880246_s

Calculation of Spousal Support

California law rules that the purpose of awarding temporary spousal support is for preserving the financial status quo, or “standard of living during the marriage” to the greatest extent possible. After a court evaluates and considers the needs of the spouse requesting the support, as well as the ability of the other spouses ability to pay, it can order the temporary spousal support in any amount. Typically, a court will use a common formula for calculating temporary support. One example of this formula is the Santa Clara County formula. This formula comes up with a figure through subtracting 50% of the lower-earner’s net income from 40% of the higher earner’s, and then makes adjustments for tax consequences and child support payments. The California Department of Child Support provides a support calculator for parents of dependent children looking to get a rough estimate of what temporary spousal support payments might look like along with child support payments. A family law attorney will also be able to provide you with a rough idea of what your payments will look like.

Standard of Living

Spousal support’s main purpose is to assist a supported spouse in maintaining a standard of living that was close to that which was attained during the marriage. But the goal is for the spouse receiving the payments to eventually become self-supporting to the greatest extent possible. A court will take the following into account:

  • marketable skills of the supported spouse,
  • job market for those skills,
  • any time or expense the supported spouse will need to acquire education or training for employment or enhanced employability, and
  • the extent to which periods of unemployment (due to domestic duties) during the marriage have impaired the supported spouse’s present or future earning capacity.

The court will also consider any other factors, including:

  • extent to which the supported spouse contributed to the other spouse’s attainment of education, training, professional licensing or career advancement (this can also mean the extent to which the supported spouse provided and maintained home life while the other spouse was advancing his or her career)
  • ability of the supporting spouse to pay support. A court will take into account earning capacity, earned and unearned income, assets, and standard of living,
  • needs of each party based on what the marital standard of living was,
  • each spouse’s obligations and assets, including separate property,
  • duration of the marriage,
  • ability of a spouse who is also a custodial parent to engage in employment without interfering with the interests of dependent children,
  • each spouse’s age and health,
  • documented history of domestic violence by either spouse*,
  • immediate and specific tax consequences to each spouse (often times tax agreements are figured out during the awarding of spousal support and child support agreements),
  • balance of the hardships to each spouse, and
  • the goal that the supported spouse will be self-supporting within a reasonable period of time. This follows a general rule of thumb presumed to be one-half the length of a marriage (unless the marriage was longer than 10 years).

*California courts do not ordinarily consider conduct when making spousal support determinations. But often times, a court will not award support to a spouse that has a proven history of violence toward the other spouse.

Duration of Spousal Support

In California, the duration of spousal support agreements are often tied to the length of the marriage. A general rule of thumb is that for a marriage of less than 10 years, a court will not order support payments be made for longer than half the length of the marriage. But if a marriage has lasted 10 years or longer, a court typically will not set a definite termination date for support. Both spouses are able to request modifications to the spousal support agreement indefinitely, unless a termination date has specifically been agreed, or if the court expressly terminates the support at a later hearing.

Awarding Permanent Support

Sometimes support is labeled “permanent” support, but the actual awarding of permanent support lasting for the remainder of a lifetime is increasingly rare, even for marriages that last over 10 years. Family law courts in California tend to require a spouse seeking support to make an effort to become self-supporting. A spouse that makes claims that they are unable to work, or unable to become fully employed, is required to support the claim with evidence. Often times this means having a  vocational evaluation. And for long term support orders, the support often gradually reduces over time by a nominal amount. Permanent support is usually only awarded to spouses that are unable to become self-supporting due to age or disability.

Spousal Support Help

Working with a family law attorney can help you understand the process of awarding and receiving spousal support. Many of the laws are specific to the state you will be divorcing in, so it’s important you work with a lawyer that is knowledgeable about your state’s laws.

Property Division

38228870_s

State laws govern how the marital property will be divided. You will need to check with an attorney to see if you live in an equitable distribution state or a community property state.

Other Considerations

There are four other steps that need to be considered when diving marital property:

  1. Identify the assets owned by you and your spouse
  2. Categorize all assets as marital or non-marital property
  3. A value will need to be assigned to the assets
  4. Devise a plan for the division of assets that is in accordance with state laws

No Fault Divorce Laws

Though most states separate the division of marital property from grounds for divorce due to no fault divorce laws, most states do consider any financial misconduct when it comes to dividing marital property. What this means is if you or your spouse has foolishly spent money then you or your spouse will most likely be penalized when it comes to dividing marital property.

Separate Join Financial Obligations

If you feel the division of marital assets might be a contentious point between you are your spouse, you might want to consider separating financial obligations prior to starting the divorce process. Marital property does not only mean furniture and household items, but also joint credit accounts. Each spouse should have access to a complete set of all financial documents. You’ll also want to close all joint credit card accounts. If you’re not able to fully separate the accounts, draft a formal written agreement outlining the activity on the remaining joint accounts. Freeze any investment assets – this will ensure neither spouse misuses funds until everything has been agreed upon. You might also want to consider changing the title on your home to read “tenants in common” until the final agreement regarding marital property has been decided upon.

A Family Law Attorney

But when it comes to the actual legal process of a divorce, you’ll want to work with a skilled family law attorney There are a number of things that need to be considered during a divorce: child support, spousal support, marital property division, and other things. Working with a skilled attorney can help ensure you get a fair case.  For advice on divorce, child custody determinations, setting up a co-parenting agreement, dividing marital property, and spousal support you need the expert law firm of Divorce Law LA. Schedule a consultation today.

Divorce Law LA, Esq.

Divorce Law LA

33 S. Catalina Ave. Ste. 202

Pasadena, Ca. 91106

(626) 478-3550

https://bestdivorcelawyer.co