polksalet Posted November 1, 2010 Share Posted November 1, 2010 Two of my best pals are going through divorces. I'm doing the best I can to help them stay sane but need some help on the legal stuff. They both have attorneys but some of their advice seems questionable to me. 1. If only one party signs for student loans are both of them on the hook? The attorney says it is marital debt and they are both responsible. From everything I've ever known the debt belongs to the one who signs up. According to lawyer they owe equally. 2. One spouse is due an approximate 60k pre tax bonus in April. This is for fy 2010 which ends Jan. 31. Does the one getting paid owe a prorated portion to the other at time of divorce?The one getting the bonus claims they don't owe the other anything per their attorney. The other's attorney said that they are owed that by law. What say you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SEC=UGA Posted November 1, 2010 Share Posted November 1, 2010 Two of my best pals are going through divorces. I'm doing the best I can to help them stay sane but need some help on the legal stuff. They both have attorneys but some of their advice seems questionable to me. 1. If only one party signs for student loans are both of them on the hook? The attorney says it is marital debt and they are both responsible. From everything I've ever known the debt belongs to the one who signs up. According to lawyer they owe equally. 2. One spouse is due an approximate 60k pre tax bonus in April. This is for fy 2010 which ends Jan. 31. Does the one getting paid owe a prorated portion to the other at time of divorce?The one getting the bonus claims they don't owe the other anything per their attorney. The other's attorney said that they are owed that by law. What say you? They my as well go ahead and pay... that or end up paying the attorney the same amount to try and save that amount for them... Bottom line, divorces suck, men get screwed and women lose all sense of rationality once their divorce attorney gets them fired up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polksalet Posted November 1, 2010 Author Share Posted November 1, 2010 They my as well go ahead and pay... that or end up paying the attorney the same amount to try and save that amount for them... Bottom line, divorces suck, men get screwed and women lose all sense of rationality once their divorce attorney gets them fired up. Actually in this case wife is the one with the fat job and the husband just found something making 30k/year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiegie Posted November 1, 2010 Share Posted November 1, 2010 I've only read the thread's title, but I know the answer is "She is still your sister." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiegie Posted November 1, 2010 Share Posted November 1, 2010 I don't know anything about the law, but it seems that the bonus should be prorated for the time they were still married. Concerning the student loan, this in sort of interesting from a logical point of view. Suppose they took out a loan to buy a house, well both of them should be liable to repay the debt BUT both of them would own half of the house. Same thing if they took out a loan to buy a car or incurred credit card debts--whatever they bought should be split and the time of the divorce. But with a student loan, the asset that was bought with the loan was "human capital". If the loan is to be split, then so should any proceeds that result from the future sale of the human capital acquired via the loan. If the loan caused the person to go to school and up his/her income by, say, $20,000 per year, then it seems reasonable that if the loan is split, then the other person ought to be earning $10,000 per year as a return on his/her "investment". Since calculating the marginal increase in income that resulted from the increase in human capital would be difficult, it seems that the most straightforward way to handle the question would be to not make the other spouse liable for the student loan. I don't know what the law says, but what I have just said above makes sense from my professional economic point of view. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dutch Oven Posted November 1, 2010 Share Posted November 1, 2010 1. There is no hard and fast rule about having to pay half of the student loans. I would have to know a little more about the case to give you a better answer. 2. Each party should get one half of the bonus if it is for 2010. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bpwallace49 Posted November 1, 2010 Share Posted November 1, 2010 Not knowing specific Arkansas law, I cant give a definitive answer. But unless specifically spelled out, debt brought into a marriage can be considered a joint debt once entered into marriage. For example, both could have bad student debt, but if one is paid off more aggresively than the other, can you legally separate that? I wouldnt think so. Community debt in a marriage can be considered the same as an asset when ending a marriage. On the bonus issue, the spouse would absolutely be entitled to monies in a bonus for an earning period while still married. The lawyer would be completely wrong in that case. (of course, I dont know if there is provisions in Arkanasas law for that . . .) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polksalet Posted November 1, 2010 Author Share Posted November 1, 2010 1. There is no hard and fast rule about having to pay half of the student loans. I would have to know a little more about the case to give you a better answer. 2. Each party should get one half of the bonus if it is for 2010. They were married 8 years and he went to grad school and graduated in August. She threw him out and he filed several months later. He took out maximum student loans (13kish) to bail them out of their house foreclosure. She has some flaws but one of her largest is that she will not make a 900/month note on 170k salary. Does that help any? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dutch Oven Posted November 1, 2010 Share Posted November 1, 2010 They were married 8 years and he went to grad school and graduated in August. She threw him out and he filed several months later. He took out maximum student loans (13kish) to bail them out of their house foreclosure. She has some flaws but one of her largest is that she will not make a 900/month note on 170k salary. Does that help any? I would say he has a good argument that she should be on the hook for some of the loan if he can document that fact that the money went into the house. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polksalet Posted November 1, 2010 Author Share Posted November 1, 2010 What do you think his chances of alimony or at least not paying child support are? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dutch Oven Posted November 1, 2010 Share Posted November 1, 2010 What do you think his chances of alimony or at least not paying child support are? Chances of not paying child support are zero. Alimony depends on the judge more than the facts in my opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caddyman Posted November 1, 2010 Share Posted November 1, 2010 What do you think his chances of alimony or at least not paying child support are? Child support is determined by a formula on combined income. If the original support order does not include the bonus amount as a factor, that person can file for a modification every six months. Then each person will have to prove their previos six months earnings to decide what is paid. The way it worked for me in PA was if I made 200k and she made 50k there was a monthly figure that the child was due each month. I had to pay 80% of that figure because I had 80% of the income. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chief Dick Posted November 1, 2010 Share Posted November 1, 2010 I don't know anything about the law, but it seems that the bonus should be prorated for the time they were still married. Concerning the student loan, this in sort of interesting from a logical point of view. Suppose they took out a loan to buy a house, well both of them should be liable to repay the debt BUT both of them would own half of the house. Same thing if they took out a loan to buy a car or incurred credit card debts--whatever they bought should be split and the time of the divorce. But with a student loan, the asset that was bought with the loan was "human capital". If the loan is to be split, then so should any proceeds that result from the future sale of the human capital acquired via the loan. If the loan caused the person to go to school and up his/her income by, say, $20,000 per year, then it seems reasonable that if the loan is split, then the other person ought to be earning $10,000 per year as a return on his/her "investment". Since calculating the marginal increase in income that resulted from the increase in human capital would be difficult, it seems that the most straightforward way to handle the question would be to not make the other spouse liable for the student loan. I don't know what the law says, but what I have just said above makes sense from my professional economic point of view. You type too fast to read this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buddahj Posted November 1, 2010 Share Posted November 1, 2010 I've only read the thread's title, but I know the answer is "She is still your sister." That's exactly what I was thinking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polksalet Posted November 1, 2010 Author Share Posted November 1, 2010 Chances of not paying child support are zero. Alimony depends on the judge more than the facts in my opinion. I was thinking of him not having to pay child support in lieu of not receiving alimony. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark5 Posted November 1, 2010 Share Posted November 1, 2010 Have I read it in the local paper yet Polk? I usually read the Monday paper to see if I have any NEW leads and with 170k at stake I can put up with a little MORE crazy..LOL.. My wife will surely understand.. We just watched "sister-wives" last night.. well, she watched it and I was too lazy to get off the couch !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polksalet Posted November 2, 2010 Author Share Posted November 2, 2010 Have I read it in the local paper yet Polk? I usually read the Monday paper to see if I have any NEW leads and with 170k at stake I can put up with a little MORE crazy..LOL.. My wife will surely understand.. We just watched "sister-wives" last night.. well, she watched it and I was too lazy to get off the couch !! Nahh this is up the innerstate about 100 miles. This sucker is really crazy. He doesn't know for sure about paternity and his wife's stomach is infected with some weird kind of helix/feces bacteria in her stomach. I don't know what she's been eating but it likely wasn't a baby ruth. When are we going to go get that enchilada from the fiesta house? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark5 Posted November 2, 2010 Share Posted November 2, 2010 Soon my friend All the kids are outta the house so we just sit around and stare at each other.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinL Posted November 2, 2010 Share Posted November 2, 2010 I was thinking of him not having to pay child support in lieu of not receiving alimony. Careful with this. Alimony is set at the time of the divorce and is not changed. Child support can be re-reviewed at any time for almost any reason. So if he agrees to the deal you set above, she could come back a month later and ask for child support, and they might not care about the original "deal". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polksalet Posted November 2, 2010 Author Share Posted November 2, 2010 Careful with this. Alimony is set at the time of the divorce and is not changed. Child support can be re-reviewed at any time for almost any reason. So if he agrees to the deal you set above, she could come back a month later and ask for child support, and they might not care about the original "deal". It is truly amazing what you can learn from thehuddle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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