How Divorcing Senior Citizens Can Protect Their Financial Interests

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The divorce rate for individuals over the age of fifty has doubled since 1990. An average divorce in Texas costs approximately fifteen thousand dollars and takes an average of twelve months to conclude. The high cost of divorce often tempts divorcing seniors to look for lower-cost alternatives to hiring an experienced divorce attorney. However, if you are facing divorce and have accumulated assets, including real estate, motor vehicles, retirement savings, and other assets, those assets are at risk. An experienced divorce attorney can help you protect your future and help to make asset and debt division fair.

When seniors are going through a divorce, they can be in a financially vulnerable position because they are approaching the age of retirement. As adults approach retirement, they might not understand how to survive on their savings, retirement accounts, and social security once they stop working. If you are considering divorce or if you have been served with divorce paper, it is very important that you educate yourself about the true costs of divorce, including your future financial life. You must also begin planning so that you can avoid some the financial struggles that people face when they are going through a divorce.

It is crucial for people going through a divorce to properly estimate the costs of living on one income. It is very important to have a realistic idea of your living expenses after the divorce. This includes spousal support, child support, child college costs, and other post-divorce expenses. Online research may help your attorney understand your legal obligations and what money you should receive as part of the divorce. It is important to understand the true living costs as you move forward with your divorce. You might have to reexamine your needs to determine your best interest. For example, can you afford the monthly car payments on the motor vehicle that you and your spouse own? Can you afford to pay the mortgage on the family home? Many divorcing spouses choose to negotiate a payout on depreciating assets like automobiles while negotiating to keep appreciating assets like a home. Your divorce attorney can help you or recommenced financial planners to help you make these important decisions.

During the divorce process, you will have to make important financial decisions when dividing assets that do not split without incurring tax or other consequences. Your divorce attorney can recommend a tax professional during your divorce to help you make informed decisions about dividing assets between yourself and your spouse.

It is important to assess the cost of dividing up the family debts and assets fairly in order to protect your financial future. You will need to provide financial records to your divorce attorney and to other professionals like financial and tax advisors, so they can help you during the divorce process. When you take the time to gather and organize all of your financial records will help you understand where you stand financially so that you can make the right moves before, during, and after a divorce.

If you have questions about the divorce process in Texas, call Family Law Attorney Alex Tyra today, at (903) 753-7499.

The Law Office of Alex Tyra, P.C.

211 E. Tyler Street #521
Longview, TX 75601
(903) 753-7499

Divorcing Couples: Who Gets What in a Texas Divorce

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Divorce can be a stressful and complicated legal process, especially when children and valuable assets are involved. Other than working out child custody of minor children, the next major issue of contention is determining how to divide real property and assets. Depending on your specific situation, discussing property division may cause heated arguments or mature conversations. However, the following may help you understand “who gets what in a Texas divorce case.”

Understanding the Types of Texas Divorces

In Texas, there are types of divorces – contested and uncontested. Ordinarily, divorcing spouses generally do not have the power to choose which divorce they will undergo. The people involved and the circumstances involved in the divorce will determine whether the divorce will be contested or uncontested.  

Uncontested divorces are easier and more straightforward. Uncontested divorces in Texas usually do not involve a civil trial. Uncontested divorces are usually amicable, and the two parties come together and form an agreement to address their property issues and custody arrangement. The parties agree on all terms.

Contest divorces are divorces that involve disagreements concerning the divorce itself, child custody, marital property, and other legal matters. These divorce issues are typically decided through litigation. 

Texas is a “community property state.” This means the State of Texas divides both spouses’ properties equally. Generally speaking, it does not matter whose name is on the marital property. If the marital property was acquired during the marriage, it becomes “marital property.” There are few circumstances when property received during a marriage is not deemed marital property.   

Avoiding Losing Pre-Martial Assets During a Texas Divorce

One way to avoid losing pre-marital assets is to create a prenuptial agreement. A prenuptial agreement details how certain pre-marital assets are distributed if a divorce should occur in the future. Prenuptial agreements are legally binding unless a spouse signed the prenuptial agreement while “under duress,” or the document contains information that is untruthful.

Contact The Law Office of Alex Tyra, P.C. For a Free Consultation

When you need assistance from an experienced Longview attorney or if you need to better understand your legal options, contact The Law Office of Alex Tyra, P.C., at (903) 753-7499. All initial consultations are free. Phone calls are answered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. 

The Law Office of Alex Tyra, P.C.

211 E. Tyler Street #521
Longview, TX 75601
(903) 753-7499

Divorcing Couples: Who Gets What in a Texas Divorce

/in /by

Divorce can be a stressful and complicated legal process, especially when children and valuable assets are involved. Other than working out child custody of minor children, the next major issue of contention is determining how to divide real property and assets. Depending on your specific situation, discussing property division may cause heated arguments or mature conversations. However, the following may help you understand “who gets what in a Texas divorce case.”

Understanding the Types of Texas Divorces

In Texas, there are types of divorces – contested and uncontested. Ordinarily, divorcing spouses generally do not have the power to choose which divorce they will undergo. The people involved and the circumstances involved in the divorce will determine whether the divorce will be contested or uncontested.  

Uncontested divorces are easier and more straightforward. Uncontested divorces in Texas usually do not involve a civil trial. Uncontested divorces are usually amicable, and the two parties come together and form an agreement to address their property issues and custody arrangement. The parties agree on all terms.

Contest divorces are divorces that involve disagreements concerning the divorce itself, child custody, marital property, and other legal matters. These divorce issues are typically decided through litigation. 

Texas is a “community property state.” This means the State of Texas divides both spouses’ properties equally. Generally speaking, it does not matter whose name is on the marital property. If the marital property was acquired during the marriage, it becomes “marital property.” There are few circumstances when property received during a marriage is not deemed marital property.   

Avoiding Losing Pre-Martial Assets During a Texas Divorce

One way to avoid losing pre-marital assets is to create a prenuptial agreement. A prenuptial agreement details how certain pre-marital assets are distributed if a divorce should occur in the future. Prenuptial agreements are legally binding unless a spouse signed the prenuptial agreement while “under duress,” or the document contains information that is untruthful.

Contact The Law Office of Alex Tyra, P.C. For a Free Consultation

When you need assistance from an experienced Longview attorney or if you need to better understand your legal options, contact The Law Office of Alex Tyra, P.C., at (903) 753-7499. All initial consultations are free. Phone calls are answered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. 

The Law Office of Alex Tyra, P.C.

211 E. Tyler Street #521
Longview, TX 75601
(903) 753-7499

Divorcing Couples: Who Gets What in a Texas Divorce

/in /by

Divorce can be a stressful and complicated legal process, especially when children and valuable assets are involved. Other than working out child custody of minor children, the next major issue of contention is determining how to divide real property and assets. Depending on your specific situation, discussing property division may cause heated arguments or mature conversations. However, the following may help you understand “who gets what in a Texas divorce case.”

Understanding the Types of Texas Divorces

In Texas, there are types of divorces – contested and uncontested. Ordinarily, divorcing spouses generally do not have the power to choose which divorce they will undergo. The people involved and the circumstances involved in the divorce will determine whether the divorce will be contested or uncontested.  

Uncontested divorces are easier and more straightforward. Uncontested divorces in Texas usually do not involve a civil trial. Uncontested divorces are usually amicable, and the two parties come together and form an agreement to address their property issues and custody arrangement. The parties agree on all terms.

Contest divorces are divorces that involve disagreements concerning the divorce itself, child custody, marital property, and other legal matters. These divorce issues are typically decided through litigation. 

Texas is a “community property state.” This means the State of Texas divides both spouses’ properties equally. Generally speaking, it does not matter whose name is on the marital property. If the marital property was acquired during the marriage, it becomes “marital property.” There are few circumstances when property received during a marriage is not deemed marital property.   

Avoiding Losing Pre-Martial Assets During a Texas Divorce

One way to avoid losing pre-marital assets is to create a prenuptial agreement. A prenuptial agreement details how certain pre-marital assets are distributed if a divorce should occur in the future. Prenuptial agreements are legally binding unless a spouse signed the prenuptial agreement while “under duress,” or the document contains information that is untruthful.

Contact The Law Office of Alex Tyra, P.C. For a Free Consultation

When you need assistance from an experienced Longview attorney or if you need to better understand your legal options, contact The Law Office of Alex Tyra, P.C., at (903) 753-7499. All initial consultations are free. Phone calls are answered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. 

The Law Office of Alex Tyra, P.C.

211 E. Tyler Street #521
Longview, TX 75601
(903) 753-7499

Texas Family Law Attorney Talks About How Divorce Affects Your Student Loan Debt

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When you divorce, you must adjust many details of your life. From deciding where you will live and how to pay your expenses to adjusting your work and social schedule to fit your new life, divorced or divorcing individuals have many things to do. If you have student loan debt, learning how your divorce will affect that debt and deciding how you will manage it now and into the future is something that you must do. The first thing that all divorced or divorcing individuals with student loans need to know is that it is crucial that you keep your loans in good standing.  If you or your soon to be former spouse are having trouble making your scheduled student loan payments, contact your lender right away. Tell the lender what is happening in your life, and ask them to explain your options for keeping your loans in good standing. You may be able to postpone your student loan payments to a later date, temporarily suspend payments through forbearance, or make reduced payments for a while. Taking action to keep your loans in good standing now can help you avoid defaulting on your student loans, no matter how awful your current financial picture may be.

In addition to taking steps to keep all student loans in good standing, divorcing couples must decide who will ultimately assume legal responsibility for each student loan debt. This is a part of the property settlement process, where the couple works with their attorneys to determine who will pay which debts and who will walk away from the divorce with which assets. Texas is a community property state. The deciding factor for who must assume responsibility for each student loan debt is when each of those debts was acquired. If either of you obtained student loans before you married, those loans are the responsibility of the spouse who obtained them. Some couples attend college after they marry or they take turns going to college and working. If either of you took out student loans after you got married, those loans are part of your marital property. In a Texas divorce, marital property is divided equally among the divorcing spouses. Since marital property includes the total of all of the debts and all of the assets that the divorcing spouses obtained during their marriage, you and your soon to be former spouse can each expect to be held responsible for an equal dollar amount of those shared debts and to receive an equal dollar amount of the shared assets.

Whether you, your spouse or both are ordered by the court to take responsibility for student loan debt according to your divorce decree, it is critical that the lenders receive notice of the divorce and of the order stating who is responsible for each loan. As I mentioned before, if you run into trouble with making timely payments on your loans, contact your lenders right away. Many lenders will be able to present you with a variety of options for keeping your student loan repayment on track, and you can select a repayment option that meets your current needs.

Keeping your student loan payments on track is part of working through your Texas divorce. For help with all of your Texas divorce questions, call Texas Family Law Attorney Alex Tyra today, at (903) 753-7499.

 

 

Texas Family Law Attorney Talks About How Divorce Affects Your Student Loan Debt

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When you divorce, you must adjust many details of your life. From deciding where you will live and how to pay your expenses to adjusting your work and social schedule to fit your new life, divorced or divorcing individuals have many things to do. If you have student loan debt, learning how your divorce will affect that debt and deciding how you will manage it now and into the future is something that you must do. The first thing that all divorced or divorcing individuals with student loans need to know is that it is crucial that you keep your loans in good standing.  If you or your soon to be former spouse are having trouble making your scheduled student loan payments, contact your lender right away. Tell the lender what is happening in your life, and ask them to explain your options for keeping your loans in good standing. You may be able to postpone your student loan payments to a later date, temporarily suspend payments through forbearance, or make reduced payments for a while. Taking action to keep your loans in good standing now can help you avoid defaulting on your student loans, no matter how awful your current financial picture may be.

In addition to taking steps to keep all student loans in good standing, divorcing couples must decide who will ultimately assume legal responsibility for each student loan debt. This is a part of the property settlement process, where the couple works with their attorneys to determine who will pay which debts and who will walk away from the divorce with which assets. Texas is a community property state. The deciding factor for who must assume responsibility for each student loan debt is when each of those debts was acquired. If either of you obtained student loans before you married, those loans are the responsibility of the spouse who obtained them. Some couples attend college after they marry or they take turns going to college and working. If either of you took out student loans after you got married, those loans are part of your marital property. In a Texas divorce, marital property is divided equally among the divorcing spouses. Since marital property includes the total of all of the debts and all of the assets that the divorcing spouses obtained during their marriage, you and your soon to be former spouse can each expect to be held responsible for an equal dollar amount of those shared debts and to receive an equal dollar amount of the shared assets.

Whether you, your spouse or both are ordered by the court to take responsibility for student loan debt according to your divorce decree, it is critical that the lenders receive notice of the divorce and of the order stating who is responsible for each loan. As I mentioned before, if you run into trouble with making timely payments on your loans, contact your lenders right away. Many lenders will be able to present you with a variety of options for keeping your student loan repayment on track, and you can select a repayment option that meets your current needs.

Keeping your student loan payments on track is part of working through your Texas divorce. For help with all of your Texas divorce questions, call Texas Family Law Attorney Alex Tyra today, at (903) 753-7499.

 

 

Texas Family Law Attorney Says Agreeing on a Possession and Access Schedule is Key to Enjoying the Summer During and After Divorce

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It is no secret that many kids look forward to summer. The extended break from school gives kids more time to relax, spend time with friends and family, and enjoy their favorite activities. Parents love summer too, but work schedules and other adult responsibilities can sometimes make planning a fun summer for the whole family challenging. If a parent is divorced or divorcing, the challenges they face in designing their summer are multiplied by the fact that they must make their plans within the confines of their possession and access schedule. If divorcing parents have not yet come up with a workable possession and access schedule, the task of planning their summer schedules can be even more difficult.

Fortunately, stress and difficulty do not have to hold you and your kids back from having a great summer. When you work with your attorney and your children’s other parent and their attorney to create a possession and access schedule that is doable for everyone, you’ll have all the information that you need to make summer plans that you and your children will enjoy. If you’re starting your divorce, or if you and your children’s parent are having trouble coming together to decide on a possession and access schedule, now is the time to make creating that schedule a priority. Schedule some time to work with your attorney, your children’s’ other parent, and their attorney to attend to it as soon as possible.

The Texas family court has a standard possession order which it awards in cases where parents cannot agree on a possession and access schedule. Most pairs of divorcing parents do not want a schedule where the kids are with one parent most of the time and with the other parent on Thursday evenings and the first, third, and fifth weekend of each month. Parents are encouraged to set aside their differences, put their heads together, and work with their attorneys to create their own possession and access schedule. Parents who work together to create a possession and access schedule are almost always much more satisfied with the plan in the long run than parents who are awarded the standard possession order by the court.

As you work with your attorney, aim to create a possession and access schedule that clearly states who will spend time with the children when both during the school year and summer vacation. Include specifics for holidays and birthdays. Take care to include rules for how and when last-minute changes can be made to the schedule. Also, plan for communication between the children and each parent when they are in the care of the other parent as well as rules for notifying the other parent about plans to attend camps or other activities far from home and vacations. While you’re working on making a possession and access schedule, you may wonder whether all of the hard work, negotiation, and, yes, compromise is worth it, but as I stated before, parents who do work together to create a schedule instead of allowing the court to award the standard plan are much more satisfied with the outcome. It is almost always worth it to hang in there and do the work until you reach an agreement.

If you would like to talk with an attorney about divorce in Texas, call Texas Family Law Attorney Alex Tyra with your Texas divorce questions today, at (903) 753-7499.

 

 

 

 

Texas Family Law Attorney Says Agreeing on a Possession and Access Schedule is Key to Enjoying the Summer During and After Divorce

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It is no secret that many kids look forward to summer. The extended break from school gives kids more time to relax, spend time with friends and family, and enjoy their favorite activities. Parents love summer too, but work schedules and other adult responsibilities can sometimes make planning a fun summer for the whole family challenging. If a parent is divorced or divorcing, the challenges they face in designing their summer are multiplied by the fact that they must make their plans within the confines of their possession and access schedule. If divorcing parents have not yet come up with a workable possession and access schedule, the task of planning their summer schedules can be even more difficult.

Fortunately, stress and difficulty do not have to hold you and your kids back from having a great summer. When you work with your attorney and your children’s other parent and their attorney to create a possession and access schedule that is doable for everyone, you’ll have all the information that you need to make summer plans that you and your children will enjoy. If you’re starting your divorce, or if you and your children’s parent are having trouble coming together to decide on a possession and access schedule, now is the time to make creating that schedule a priority. Schedule some time to work with your attorney, your children’s’ other parent, and their attorney to attend to it as soon as possible.

The Texas family court has a standard possession order which it awards in cases where parents cannot agree on a possession and access schedule. Most pairs of divorcing parents do not want a schedule where the kids are with one parent most of the time and with the other parent on Thursday evenings and the first, third, and fifth weekend of each month. Parents are encouraged to set aside their differences, put their heads together, and work with their attorneys to create their own possession and access schedule. Parents who work together to create a possession and access schedule are almost always much more satisfied with the plan in the long run than parents who are awarded the standard possession order by the court.

As you work with your attorney, aim to create a possession and access schedule that clearly states who will spend time with the children when both during the school year and summer vacation. Include specifics for holidays and birthdays. Take care to include rules for how and when last-minute changes can be made to the schedule. Also, plan for communication between the children and each parent when they are in the care of the other parent as well as rules for notifying the other parent about plans to attend camps or other activities far from home and vacations. While you’re working on making a possession and access schedule, you may wonder whether all of the hard work, negotiation, and, yes, compromise is worth it, but as I stated before, parents who do work together to create a schedule instead of allowing the court to award the standard plan are much more satisfied with the outcome. It is almost always worth it to hang in there and do the work until you reach an agreement.

If you would like to talk with an attorney about divorce in Texas, call Texas Family Law Attorney Alex Tyra with your Texas divorce questions today, at (903) 753-7499.

 

 

 

 

Texas Family Law Attorney Says Letting Go of Yesterday Will Help You Today

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Divorce is the legal means by which a marriage ends. It is a critical step to take if you need to separate your life from the life of the person that you married. The divorce process and the divorce decree that is the result of that process answer some questions about what your life and the life of your former spouse will look like as each of you moves forward. You and your spouse will make decisions during your divorce about how your assets and debts will be divided, how time with your children will be divided, and whether any money will flow from one of you to the other on an ongoing basis, there are many things that your divorce case and your divorce decree won’t resolve. These issues must be addressed in different ways so that you can truly move forward with your life.

The feelings that you have towards your former spouse and the way that you interact with them during and after your divorce play a significant role in shaping your life both during and after your divorce. A divorce is always the beginning of a changed life, but you are primarily responsible for the direction that that changed life takes. Some divorced and divorcing individuals choose to seek healing of the hurts that they experienced during their marriage and the breakdown of their marriage. Some forgive their former spouse for all of the things that they feel were wrong in their marriage and resolve to let the past remain in the past as they develop a new way of interacting with their former spouse that is not bitter or angry. Others choose to hold tightly onto the pain that they feel their former spouse caused them, and to interact with their former spouse in an angry, bitter, and often confrontational manner. As they move forward into their life without their former spouse by their side, they continue to focus on how they were wronged, sometimes even long after the marriage has ended.

If you are divorcing or are divorced, I would like to encourage you to let your marriage stay in the past where it belongs. You do not have to carry the pain and anger forward into today, tomorrow, or next week. You can move forward with your divorce proceedings and your post-divorce life with the wisdom you gained along the way and the inspiration that comes from having a clean slate. The problems that you had during your marriage do not have to follow you through the rest of your life and steal your joy. It’s not always easy to heal the hurts of a marriage that ended in divorce, and anger and bitterness can be slow to leave the scene. However, you do not have to heal or forgive on your own. Many people can help you with the work of healing and forgiveness. Counselors, clergy, friends, and family are all potentially helpful resources who can help you set down your suitcases and unpack the emotional baggage of your marriage and divorce so that you can walk forward into the future with nothing holding you back from living in your full potential.

If you would like to talk with an attorney about divorce in Texas, call Texas Family Law Attorney Alex Tyra with your Texas divorce questions today, at (903) 753-7499.

 

 

 

Texas Family Law Attorney Says Some Couples Pause or Even End Their Divorce Cases and Remain Married

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Did you know that not every divorce case filed in Texas proceeds directly from start to finish? Some Texas couples choose to pause their divorce cases to assess whether reconciliation is possible. As a result of that assessment, some of those couples decide to end their divorce proceedings and remain married.

This may sound like somewhat of a fairy tale, complete with a happy ending. For some couples, it is indeed for the best, eventually resulting in a restored marriage and happily ever after. Of course, reconciliation does not always work, and some couples who attempt to reconcile during their divorce eventually decide to continue the divorce process all of the way to a final divorce decree.

It is crucial for any couple who may want to explore reconciliation to recognize that it’s not an easy path, and it does make your divorce case more complicated regardless of which direction you and your spouse eventually go. If you have filed for divorce, your divorce case is, at any given time, somewhere along a timeline that moves from the date the divorce complaint is filed to the date a judge issues a final divorce decree. There are a variety of stages a divorce case moves through from beginning to end, and depending on the timing of your decision to try to reconcile, you may have some extra work to do. For example, if there have been any protective orders issued in your case, your attorneys may have to have those lifted before you can legally have the amount and type of contact you want with your spouse. If you and your spouse are considering giving reconciliation a try, be sure to discuss that with your attorney and ask your spouse to do the same. Your attorney will help you understand what your options are during and after your reconciliation attempt, whether or not it is successful

Another critical point to consider is how your reconciliation attempt will affect your children. Before you discuss what you plan to do with them, talk with their therapists if they are in counseling and also seek information and advice about how to proceed with wisdom in this area. Children’s hearts are tender at any age, and it is always best to use caution and think things through before bringing them into your children’s world.

Additionally, seek counseling for yourselves. The couples who successfully reconcile are the couples who put a wholehearted effort into understanding how their marriage got to the point of breaking and learn how to restore the love, trust, and health to their marriage. These are serious matters which deserve serious commitment, time, and effort from both spouses. It is not wise to attempt reconciliation unless you are confident that your spouse is just as committed and serious about it as you are.

If you have questions about divorce in Texas, call Texas Family Law Attorney Alex Tyra with your Texas divorce questions today, at (903) 753-7499.