Hartford Divorce Law Blog

When dividing property during divorce, your household income becomes very important. To start with, you must fully understand what assets you control in order to divide them fairly. On top of that, you need to budget for your post-divorce life, and that starts with an understanding of what your income will look like after the split.

With this in mind, here are a few key statistics about income in the state:

• The average household income clocks in at $106,014.56.
• The median household income tells a slightly different story, however, coming in at $80,336.00.
• There are 360,017 people in the state who live below the established poverty level.
• On the other side, there are over 3.08 million people who live above that level.
• The average income for those who are under 25 years old is less than $40,000 per year.
• Between 25 and 44 years old, it jumps all the way up to $90,000.
• It rises again for those between 45 years old and 64 years old, reaching nearly $100,000.
• For those over 65 years old, it declines sharply, falling all the way to just over $50,000 per year.

Imagine an eagle's nest. You have two adult birds and some eaglets chirping away in the nest. Mother eagle and father eagle go out hunting for food, and they share in their duties. Sometimes, father eagle comes home with a fish and carefully feeds it to the babies. Other times, it's mother eagle who comes home with a rodent to give them. The parents are doing their own things separately. At the same time, everything revolves around the kids.

The novel concept of "bird's nest" co-parenting is definitely not going to be for every parent, but it's an interesting concept to consider. The general concept is this: The parents adjust themselves to the children, and they attempt to keep life as stable as possible for their kids. They do this by letting the children continue living in the same house. The mother and father will then find new homes, or maybe just one extra home. Sometimes, dad is at the home of the kids, tending to their needs, and mom is at the other house. Other times, mom is at the home of the kids.

Everyone who stands a chance to receive alimony is eager to get it, and everyone who stands to pay alimony is not eager to fulfill this financial responsibility. The thing is, these helpful payments are an important part of keeping marriages fair in our society. After all, what would happen if someone was trapped in a toxic marriage and was afraid to leave because he or she had no other way of obtaining financial support?

By creating laws to establish alimony rules and guidelines the state of Connecticut has done a great thing to protect spouses from being controlled and forced to endure a difficult situation by a so-called "moneyed" spouse. By virtue of state family laws, the lesser-moneyed spouse could qualify for spousal support when:

• The spouses were married for years instead of months. The longer the marriage lasted, the higher chance there will be of an alimony award.
• One spouse doesn't work and doesn't have the requisite skills and education to obtain a job that allows him or her to be financially independent.
• The quality of life enjoyed during marriage is unsustainable by the lesser-moneyed spouse.
• If the parents had children, there is the question of whether the lesser-moneyed spouse should refrain from getting a job in order to suitably care for the children.
• The moneyed spouse can afford to pay alimony.

To avoid conflict and make sure they're on the same page in terms of co-parenting issues, many divorcing parents will include a variety of "parenting provisions" in their child custody arrangements. These provisions are statements that the parents agree to within their child custody agreements, and the parents must abide by them or face legal consequences.

Here is a review of several parenting provision examples related to the disciplining of a child:

• Each parent will discipline the child responsibly during the times the child is under their care. If a significant discipline issue arises, the parents will discuss the matter to find an agreed-upon solution.
• The parents will not allow third parties to use physical discipline or corporal punishment on the child.
• Disciplinary measures will not override the parenting schedule, and the other parent will not be deprived of his or her parenting time as a result of the discipline unless the other parent agrees.
• The parents will convene annually -- or more frequently as needed -- to discuss important matters relating to discipline and come to an agreement regarding how to proceed.