Acquiring assets such as a home or car may make your life easier and more comfortable. However, if those assets were acquired during your marriage, they may be subject to New York property division rules in a divorce. Of course, this assumes that they are part of the marital estate or you even have access to them. A high net worth may also imply that you’ll be liable for alimony or child support payments.
Managing assets may be complicated
If assets are held in a trust, they may be exempt from property division proceedings as they are outside of the marital estate. Although compensation in the form of stock options may not be received for years after a divorce is settled, it generally needs to be accounted for in a settlement. However, determining how much they are worth is complicated because they may be worthless when they vest.
How alimony payments are calculated
Alimony payments are based on several factors, such as the length of the marriage and each spouse’s ability to earn income. If your spouse remarries or cohabitates with another person, payments may end even if you were ordered to make payments indefinitely. Any payments from a divorce settlement obtained after the first day of 2018 are not considered income, which may impact your ability to obtain a loan or housing on your own.
Determining child support
Child support payments are designed to provide a child with a similar lifestyle to the one that he or she would have had if the divorce never took place. Therefore, you may be required to make child support payments above what would be needed for basic goods such as food, clothing and shelter.
Taking a proactive approach to the divorce process may make it easier to resolve property division, alimony or other issues in an amicable and timely fashion. Tax returns, bank statements and other records may be useful in helping to obtain a favorable settlement.